title: Vagal Nerve Stimulation Evoked Heart Rate Changes and Protection from Cardiac Remodeling.
abstract: This study investigated whether vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) leads to improvements in ischemic heart failure via heart rate modulation. At 7 ± 1 days post left anterior descending artery (LAD) ligation, 63 rats with myocardial infarctions (MI) were implanted with ECG transmitters and VNS devices (MI + VNS, N = 44) or just ECG transmitters (MI, N = 17). VNS stimulation was active from 14 ± 1 days to 8 ± 1 weeks post MI. The average left ventricular (LV) end diastolic volumes at 8 ± 1 weeks were MI = 672.40 μl and MI + VNS = 519.35 μl, p = 0.03. The average heart weights, normalized to body weight (± std) at 14 ± 1 weeks were MI = 3.2 ± 0.6 g*kg(-1) and MI + VNS = 2.9 ± 0.3 g*kg(-1), p = 0.03. The degree of cardiac remodeling was correlated with the magnitude of acute VNS-evoked heart rate (HR) changes. Further research is required to determine if the acute heart rate response to VNS activation is useful as a heart failure biomarker or as a tool for VNS therapy characterization.
authors.affiliation: Boston Scientific Corporation, 4100 Hamline Ave. North, St. Paul, MN, 55112, USA.
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: Boston Scientific Corporation, 4100 Hamline Ave. North, St. Paul, MN, 55112, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mokelke
authors.affiliation: Boston Scientific Corporation, 4100 Hamline Ave. North, St. Paul, MN, 55112, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Ruble
authors.affiliation: Boston Scientific Corporation, 4100 Hamline Ave. North, St. Paul, MN, 55112, USA. craig.stolen@bsci.com.
authors.forename: Craig M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Stolen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006339:Heart Rate; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D058117:Neural Prostheses; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013686:Telemetry; D013997:Time Factors; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020257:Ventricular Remodeling
keywords: Autonomic modulation; Cardiac remodeling; Heart failure; Heart rate; Parasympathetic nervous system; Vagal nerve stimulation; Vagus nerve