Abstract
BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate the effects of regulating autonomic nervous system (ANS) homeostasis by inhibiting sympathetic hyperactivity and/or enhancing parasympathetic activity on pulmonary inflammation and functional disturbance.MethodsAn animal model of acute lung injury (ALI) was established in rabbits by an intratracheal injection of hydrochloric acid (HCl) in rabbits. Animals in control groups were received saline or HCl only, and the others received both HCl and followed treatments: vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), intravenous injection of tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA), or stellate ganglion block (SGB). The effects of different treatments on the changes in autonomic nervous system homeostasis, pulmonary and systemic inflammation, and functional disturbance were detected.ResultsSympathetic nervous activity was higher than parasympathetic nervous activity in rabbits after HCl aspiration, as demonstrated by the significant changes in the discharge frequency of cervical sympathetic/vagus trunk, and heart rate variability. VNS, THA and SGB could significantly alleviate the changes of ANS induced by HCl aspiration and improved the pulmonary function, especially for SGB treatment.ConclusionsThe disturbance of ANS homeostasis is attributed to a predominance of SNS activity. Administration of VNS, THA and SGB are capable to regulate disequilibrium of the ANS in rabbits with HCl-induced ALI and SGB is supposed to be the most effective approach.
Highlights
This study aimed to investigate the effects of regulating autonomic nervous system (ANS) homeostasis by inhibiting sympathetic hyperactivity and/or enhancing parasympathetic activity on pulmonary inflammation and functional disturbance
Improvement of pulmonary function in the three treatment groups When surgery was finished, no significant difference were identified in the pulmonary functional indicators among these five groups (P > 0.05), but conditions were changed since 5 min after surgery
All the three treated groups, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), THA and stellate ganglion block (SGB), showed a significant alleviation on this decline in hydrochloric acid (HCl) group since 4 h, 3 h, 2 h after surgery, respectively (VNS, t = 3.25, 3.77 and 3.41, P = 0.001, 0.000 and 0.001, respectively; THA, t = 2.23, 2.27, 3.36 and 3.11, P = 0.027, 0.024, 0.001 and 0.002, respectively; SGB, t = 2.26, 3.48, 3.98, 5.63 and 6.05, P = 0.02, 0.001, 0.000, 0.000 and 0.000, respectively), but there PaO2 levels was still lower than control group (Fig. 1a)
Summary
This study aimed to investigate the effects of regulating autonomic nervous system (ANS) homeostasis by inhibiting sympathetic hyperactivity and/or enhancing parasympathetic activity on pulmonary inflammation and functional disturbance. When the balance between the sympathetic nervous systems (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous systems (PNS) is disturbed by some events, such as serious stress and inflammation, strong sympathetic impulse, may shift the autonomic nervous system (ANS) homeostasis towards sympathetic dominance, leading to various diseases associated with sympathomodulation [1, 2]. Inhibiting SNS hyperactivity and/or adjusting PNS activity plays an important role in modulating ANS balance, and improves clinical outcomes in patients with severe inflammation. The most effective approach to achieve the most improvement for patients with severe stress and inflammation has not been confirmed. Important progress has been made in understanding the physiological and pathological changes caused by stress and inflammatory infiltration, researches focusing on the extent of ANS homeostasis destruction, the roles of the
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