Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230001, Anhui Province, China.
College of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230001, Anhui Province, China.
Neurobiol Dis. 2024 Apr;193:106440. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2024.106440. Epub 2024 Feb 16.
Limited treatment options have been shown to alter the natural course of constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C). Therefore, safer and more effective approaches are urgently needed. We investigated the effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) in a mouse model of IBS-C. In the current study, C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal control, IBS-C model control, sham-electrostimulation (sham-ES), taVNS, and drug treatment groups. The effects of taVNS on fecal pellet number, fecal water content, and gastrointestinal transit were evaluated in IBS-C model mice. We assessed the effect of taVNS on visceral hypersensitivity using the colorectal distention test. 16S rRNA sequencing was used to analyze the fecal microbiota of the experimental groups. First, we found that taVNS increased fecal pellet number, fecal water content, and gastrointestinal transit in IBS-C model mice compared with the sham-ES group. Second, taVNS significantly decreased the abdominal withdrawal reflex (AWR) score compared with the sham-ES group, thus relieving visceral hyperalgesia. Third, the gut microbiota outcomes showed that taVNS restored Lactobacillus abundance while increasing Bifidobacterium probiotic abundance at the genus level. Notably, taVNS increased the number of c-kit-positive interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) in the myenteric plexus region in IBS-C mice compared with the sham-ES group. Therefore, our study indicated that taVNS effectively ameliorated IBS-C in the gut microbiota and ICC.
有限的治疗选择已被证明可以改变以便秘为主的肠易激综合征(IBS-C)的自然病程。因此,迫切需要更安全、更有效的方法。我们研究了经皮耳迷走神经刺激(taVNS)在 IBS-C 小鼠模型中的作用。在本研究中,C57BL/6 小鼠被随机分为正常对照组、IBS-C 模型对照组、假电刺激(sham-ES)组、taVNS 组和药物治疗组。我们评估了 taVNS 对 IBS-C 模型小鼠粪便颗粒数、粪便含水量和胃肠道转运的影响。我们使用结肠扩张测试评估 taVNS 对内脏敏感性的影响。16S rRNA 测序用于分析实验组的粪便微生物群。首先,我们发现 taVNS 增加了 IBS-C 模型小鼠的粪便颗粒数、粪便含水量和胃肠道转运,与 sham-ES 组相比。其次,taVNS 与 sham-ES 组相比显著降低了腹侧退缩反射(AWR)评分,从而缓解了内脏痛觉过敏。第三,肠道微生物组结果表明,taVNS 恢复了乳杆菌的丰度,同时增加了双歧杆菌益生菌的丰度在属水平上。值得注意的是,与 sham-ES 组相比,taVNS 增加了 IBS-C 小鼠肌间神经丛区域 c-kit 阳性肠肌间细胞(ICC)的数量。因此,我们的研究表明,taVNS 有效地改善了 IBS-C 的肠道微生物群和 ICC。
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