title: Therapeutic potential of spinal cord stimulation for gastrointestinal motility disorders: a preliminary rodent study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spinal cord electrical stimulation (SCS) has been applied for the management of chronic pain. Most of studies have revealed a decrease in sympathetic activity with SCS. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects and mechanisms of SCS on gastrointestinal (GI) motility in healthy and diabetic rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male rats chronically implanted with a unipolar electrode at T9/T10 were studied. The study included four experiments to assess the effects of SCS on (1) gastric tone; (2) gastric emptying of liquids and intestinal transit; (3) gastric emptying of solids; and (4) sympathovagal balance in healthy rats and/or in Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) Spinal cord stimulation intensity dependently increased gastric tone in healthy rats. The gastric volume was 0.97 ± 0.15 mL at baseline, and decreased to 0.92 ± 0.16 mL with SCS of the 30% motor threshold (MT; p = 0.13 vs baseline), 0.86 ± 0.14 mL with 60% MT (p = 0.045 vs baseline), and 0.46 ± 0.19 mL with 90% MT (p = 0.0050 vs baseline). (2) Spinal cord stimulation increased gastric emptying of liquids by about 17% and accelerated small intestinal transit by about 20% in healthy rats (p < 0.001). (3) Spinal cord stimulation accelerated gastric emptying of solids by about 24% in healthy rats and by about 78% in diabetic rats. (4) Spinal cord stimulation decreased sympathetic activity (1.13 ± 0.18 vs 0.68 ± 0.09, p < 0.04) and sympathovagal balance (0.51 ± 0.036 vs 0.40 ± 0.029, p = 0.028).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Spinal cord stimulation accelerates gastric emptying of liquids and solids, and intestinal transit, probably by inhibiting the sympathetic activity. Spinal cord stimulation may have a therapeutic potential for treating GI motility disorders.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Research and Education Foundation, VA Medical Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, El Paso, TX, USA.
authors.forename: G-Q
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Foreman
authors.forename: J D Z
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D005746:Gastric Emptying / Q000502:physiology; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord
keywords: gastric emptying; gastrointestinal motility; intestinal transit; spinal cord stimulation; sympathetic activity