title: Physiological and morphological effects of long-term vagal stimulation in diet induced obesity in rats.
abstract: Some previous studies have shown suppressive effect of the vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) on long - term feeding regulation in rats. We assessed body weight, interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), myenteric plexus neurons, mast cells in the stomach, duodenum and colon and c-Fos expression in nodose vagal ganglia in the rats with VNS. Male Wistar rats were implanted with microchip (MC) and kept during the whole study (100 days) on high calorie diet. Left vagal nerve was stimulated by electrical pulses (10ms, 200mV, 0.05Hz) generated by MC. After finishing the experiments tissue samples (stomach, duodenum, colon and nodosal vagal ganglia) were taken. Mast cells were toluidine blue stained and counted in mucosa, muscularis externa and serosa. For immunostaining, antibodies for ICC (CD117), myenteric plexus neurons (PGP9.5) and c-Fos were used. Positive cells were assessed by image analysis. Chronic microchip vagal stimulation significantly decreased epididymal fat pad weight, meal size with effect on decreased weight gain in VNS rat. VNS significantly increased mast cells number in all examined parts of the gastrointestinal wall, mainly in the muscularis. There were no significant differences in ICC and myenteric plexus neurons between VNS and control. Expression of c-Fos in nodosal ganglia was higher in VNS group. The effects observed during long-term VNS concern predominantly mast cells. These data support the theory that VNS can increase vagal afferent satiety signals leading to reduced food intake and body weight gain and mast cells are involved in this process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland. mpgil@cyf-kr.edu.pl
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bugajski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurnik
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zaraska
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thor
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000502:physiology*; D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001069:Appetite Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004064:Digestive System / Q000166:cytology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology*; D056885:Interstitial Cells of Cajal / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000502:physiology; D009197:Myenteric Plexus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009620:Nodose Ganglion / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats