title: [Effects of efferent vagus nerve excitation on inflammatory response in heart tissue in rats with endotoxemia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effects of electrical stimulation of efferent vagus nerve on the inflammatory response in heart tissue in rats with endotoxemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and ten Wistar rats were randomly divided into seven groups. Animals were subjected to bilateral cervical vagotomy, or a comparable sham surgical procedure in which the vagus nerves were isolated but not transected. The distal end of a vagus nerve trunk was placed across bipolar electrodes connected to a stimulation module and controlled by an acquisition system. Stimuli with constant voltage (5 V, 2 ms, 1 Hz) were applied to the nerve for 20 minutes immediately after administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10 mg/kg, E coli O111: B4, Sigma), and then were repeated 2 times after each of 10 minutes interval. Blood and tissue samples of these rats were collected at 1, 1.5 and 2 hours after LPS administration in all groups. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in heart tissue and serum MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase(CK-MB) were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The electrical stimulation of the efferent vagus nerve significantly decreased the contents of TNF-alpha and MPO in heart tissue and CK-MB in serum, and alleviated myocardial inflammation in heart tissue at all time points, especially at 1.5 hours after endotoxin challenge.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggested that excitation of the efferent vagus nerve can significantly alleviate the inflammatory response in the heart tissue, thus it might produce a potential protective effect on the heart during endotoxemia in rats.
authors.affiliation: Burn Institute, 304th Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100037, China.
authors.forename: De-guang
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Xiao-guo
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Jun-you
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qi-lin
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhi-yong
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Sheng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D019446:Endotoxemia / Q000473:pathology*; D007249:Inflammation; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha