School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Neuroscience. 2011 Aug 25;189:207-14. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.05.024. Epub 2011 May 26.
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an FDA approved treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy and depression. Recently, we demonstrated the capacity for repeatedly pairing sensory input with brief pulses of VNS to induce input specific reorganization in rat auditory cortex. This was subsequently used to reverse the pathological neural and perceptual correlates of hearing loss induced tinnitus. Despite its therapeutic potential, VNS mechanisms of action remain speculative. In this study, we report the acute effects of VNS on intra-cortical synchrony, excitability, and sensory processing in anesthetized rat auditory cortex. VNS significantly increased and decorrelated spontaneous multi-unit activity, and suppressed entrainment to repetitive noise burst stimulation at 6-8 Hz but not after application of the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine. Collectively, these experiments demonstrate the capacity for VNS to acutely influence cortical synchrony and excitability and strengthen the hypothesis that acetylcholine and muscarinic receptors are involved in VNS mechanisms of action. These results are discussed with respect to their possible implications for sensory processing, neural plasticity, and epilepsy.
迷走神经刺激（VNS）是一种经美国食品药品监督管理局批准的治疗药物抵抗性癫痫和抑郁症的方法。最近，我们证明了可以通过将感觉输入与短暂的 VNS 脉冲反复配对，从而在大鼠听觉皮层中诱导输入特异性重组。随后，这种方法被用于逆转由听力损失引起的耳鸣的病理性神经和感知相关性。尽管 VNS 具有治疗潜力，但它的作用机制仍存在推测。在这项研究中，我们报告了 VNS 对麻醉大鼠听觉皮层内皮质同步性、兴奋性和感觉处理的急性影响。VNS 显著增加并去相关自发性多单位活动，并抑制了对重复噪声爆发刺激的节律性，但在应用毒蕈碱拮抗剂东莨菪碱后则没有这种效果。总的来说，这些实验证明了 VNS 有能力急性影响皮质同步性和兴奋性，并加强了乙酰胆碱和毒蕈碱受体参与 VNS 作用机制的假设。这些结果与它们对感觉处理、神经可塑性和癫痫的可能影响进行了讨论。
