Abstract
Objective: The present study aims to investigate whether the anticonvulsant effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation is associated with balancing the autonomic dysfunction in rats. Methods: Healthy adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized with an intraperitoneal injection of 10% urethane. Seizures were evoked by intraperitoneal injection of pentylenetetrazol (PTZ, 60 mg/kg). Femoral vein catheterization was performed for injection of sympathetic agonist and antagonists. Bipolar globe silver electrodes were utilized for epidural EEG recording. Three needles were inserted separately in subcutaneous muscles of left anterior limb, right anterior limb, and left hind limb to record ECG signals. ta-VNS was performed at auricular concha. Results: In comparison with preictal state, the mean heart rate (HR) increased slightly during epileptic seizures (P Conclusion: The results showed that autonomic dysfunction occurred in epileptic rats characterized by enhanced sympathetic nerve activity. Epileptic seizures in EEG traces decreased, HR decreased and HF increased after ta-VNS, which indicated that ta-VNS may suppress epileptic seizures via balancing the autonomic dysfunction. Abbreviations: SUDEP: sudden unexpected death; HRV: Heart rate variability; HR: heart rate; EEG: electroencephalograph; ECG: electrocardiograph; LF: low-frequency; HF: high-frequency; VNS: vagus nerve stimulation; ta-VNS: transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation; NTS: nucleus tractus solitaries; UCMS: unpredictable chronic mild stress. Received 7 July 2016; Accept 8 October 2016
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