ArticleBMC anesthesiology2019
Electric vagal nerve stimulation inhibits inflammation and improves early postoperation cognitive dysfunction in aged rats.
Article in BMC anesthesiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Reduces Postoperative Delirium After Major Non-Cardiac Surgery in Elderly Patients.Clinical interventions in aging · 2026Trial
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: Current Evidence and Future Directions.NeuroSci · 2026Review
- Neuroimmune Regulation for Acute Kidney Injury Therapy: Insights Along the Path From Bench to Bedside.Seminars in nephrology · 2026Review
- Neuropsychological Insights Into Child Survival: Possible Protective Dissociation During Prolonged Entrapment After a Turkish Earthquake.The American journal of case reports · 2025Article
- Associations between peripheral nerve stimulation and cognitive performance: insights from healthy individuals and various disease pathologies.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Review
- The gut-brain axis and cognitive control: A role for the vagus nerve.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2024Review
- taVNS Alleviates Sevoflurane-Induced Cognitive Dysfunction in Aged Rats Via Activating Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Neurons.Neurochemical research · 2023Article
- Baroreceptor Modulation of the Cardiovascular System, Pain, Consciousness, and Cognition.Comprehensive Physiology · 2021Article
- Inflammation Disturbed the Tryptophan Catabolites in Hippocampus of Post-operative Fatigue Syndrome RatsFrontiers in neuroscience · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThis study aimed to evaluate effects of electric vagal nerve stimulation on early postoperation cognitive dysfunction in aged rats.
methodsA total of 33 male Sprague Dawley rats were selected and assigned randomly to three groups, control group (C, n = 10), splenectomy group (S, n = 10) and splenectomy+vagal nerve stimulation group (SV, n = 13). Behavior and memory of rats were evaluated by Open Field Test and Morris Water Maze. Levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 in serum were measured by ELISA. The level of TNF-α protein in hippocampus was assessed by Western blotting. rt-PCR was used to detect mRNA expression of NF-κB in hippocampus.
resultsDuring anesthesia/operation, vital life signs of rats were stable. In SV group, vagal nerve stimulation decreased heart rate lower than 10% of basic level and kept it at a stable range by regulating stimulation intensity. After stimulation stop, heart rate returned to the basic level again. This indicated that the model of vagal nerve stimulation was successful. Serum levels of TNF-α and IL-6 increased by the operation/anesthesia, but they decreased with vagal nerve stimulation (all P < 0.05). TNF-α protein and mRNA expression of NF-κB in hippocampus were also eliminated by vagal nerve stimulation compared to S group (P < 0.05). Results of Morris Water Maze showed escape latency of postoperation in S group was significantly longer than C group (P < 0.05), and times of crossing platform in S group was lower than that of C group (P < 0.05). Although escape latency of postopration in SV group was shorter than that of S group, there was no significant difference between two groups. Meanwhile there were no significant differences of behavior test in Open Field test between three groups, although vagal nerve stimulation improved partly active explore behavior compared to S group.
conclusionThe inflammation caused by operation and general anesthesia was an important reason of early postoperation cognitive dysfunction, and electric vagal nerve stimulation could inhibit the inflammation. Meanwhile, vagal nerve stimulation could ameliorate early postoperation cognitive dysfunction partly, but its protective effects were not enough and should be studied and improved in future.
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