[Electrical stimulation of the vagal nerve: from experimental to clinical aspects].
OBJECTIVE
This review focuses its attention on the studies that have been conducted to determine the influence of electrical stimulation of the vagal nerve on experimentally induced convulsive activity and its application in the clinical field. The literature published to date describes an anticonvulsive effect on the seizures triggered by pharmacological agents and by electrical stimulation such as electroshock, and in the amygdaline electrical kindling model a delay in the generalisation of the convulsive activity is observed.


METHODS
The first experimental observations showed that electrical stimulation of the vagal nerve can have effects on EEG activity, including synchronisation and desynchronisation of the electrical activity of the brain, as well as promoting an increase in the amount of REM sleep. These observations served as the basis for the renewed interest in the electrical stimulation of the vagal nerve in experimental models and testing its effectiveness in patients with medication-resistant epilepsy. Nevertheless, the mechanisms accounting for the anticonvulsive effect remain unknown.


CONCLUSIONS
These observations open up the possibility of studying the role played by neurotransmitters and neuromodulators in the anticonvulsive process of the electrical stimulation of the vagal nerve in experimental models of epilepsy and offer evidence of its possible action in the human brain.
Magdaleno-Madrigal
V M
VM
Laboratorio de Neurofisiología del Control y la Regulación, Subdirección de Investigaciones en Neurociencias, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramon de la Fuente Muñiz, Mexico DF, Mexico. maleno@imp.edu.mx
D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*