Zhang Jian-Liang, Zhang Shi-Ping, Zhang Hong-Qi
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.
J Neurol Sci. 2008 Jul 15;270(1-2):114-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2008.02.015. Epub 2008 Apr 3.
Introduced about two decades ago, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy has been increasingly used for the treatment of refractory epilepsy recently. This study was set out to compare the effects between VNS and electroacupuncture (EA) on pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) induced epileptiform activities in the rat cerebral cortex. Under general anesthesia, the parietal cortex of the rat (n=20) was exposed to record the cortical epileptiform activities. The left vagus nerve was stimulated at 30 Hz, 1 mA or 3 mA for 5 min. For EA, "Dazhui" acupoint (GV14) was stimulated with a pair of acupuncture needles with the same parameters. The results show that both VNS and EA at either 1 mA or 3 mA could inhibit the PTZ-induced cortical epileptiform activities, and higher stimulation (3 mA) was not associated with a greater inhibition. In the cases that showed inhibitory responses, there were no statistically significant differences between the two modalities, implying that EA could be comparable to VNS in the treatment of epilepsy. Thus, under current experimental settings, the antiepileptic effect induced by electrical stimulation appeared not vagal specific, and EA could be a good alternative to VNS in the management of epilepsy.
迷走神经刺激（VNS）疗法大约在二十年前被引入，近年来越来越多地用于治疗难治性癫痫。本研究旨在比较VNS与电针（EA）对戊四氮（PTZ）诱导的大鼠大脑皮质癫痫样活动的影响。在全身麻醉下，暴露大鼠（n = 20）的顶叶皮质以记录皮质癫痫样活动。以30 Hz、1 mA或3 mA刺激左侧迷走神经5分钟。对于电针，用一对具有相同参数的针灸针刺激“大椎”穴（GV14）。结果表明，1 mA或3 mA的VNS和EA均可抑制PTZ诱导的皮质癫痫样活动，且较高刺激强度（3 mA）并未产生更大的抑制作用。在显示出抑制反应的情况下，两种方式之间无统计学显著差异，这意味着在癫痫治疗中电针可与VNS相媲美。因此，在当前实验设置下，电刺激诱导的抗癫痫作用似乎并非迷走神经特异性的，并且在癫痫管理中电针可能是VNS的良好替代方法。
