《Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice》 ›› 2017, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (9): 1037-1042.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-9771.2017.09.010

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Wake-promoting and Expression of γ-aminobutyric Acid b1 Receptor in Prefrontal Cortex of Coma Rats post Traumatic Brain Injury

LIAO Cheng-cheng, FENG Zhen, HUANG Fei-fei, CHEN Qin   

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330006, China
  • Received:2016-11-05 Revised:2017-05-11 Published:2017-09-25 Online:2017-10-10
  • Contact: Correspondence to FENG Zhen. E-mail: fengzhenly@sina.com

Abstract: ObjectiveTo investigate the wake-promoting effect of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) on coma rats after traumatic brain injury (TBI), and the related mechanism. MethodsA total of 168 healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into blank group, TBI group, antagonist group and VNS group, 42 rats in each group. The latter three groups were established TBI model with impact, and the rats in coma at least 30 minutes were included. VNS group accepted VNS, the antagonist group were injected intralateroventricularly Orexin A receptor 1 (OXR1) antagonist SB334867, and TBI group accepted sham VNS. Their behaviors were observed to determine the level of consciousness six, twelve and 24 hours after intervention, while the expression of γ-aminobutyric acid b1 receptor (GABAb1R) in prefrontal cortex was detected with immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. ResultsThere were 42 rats in the blank group, 11 rats in TBI group, 13 rats in the antagonist group, and 28 rats in VNS group awakened finally. The expression of GABAb1R in prefrontal cortex ranged as TBI group, antagonist group, blank group and VNS group from more to less twelve and 24 hours after intervention under Western blotting (F>60.412, P<0.001), and it ranged as TBI group, antagonist group, VNS group and blank group under immunohistochemistry (H=15.121, P=0.002), with no significant difference among time points (H=3.028, P=0.220). ConclusionVNS can promote waking from coma in rats after TBI, which may relate with the decrease of GABAb1R in prefrontal cortex that induced by Orexin A.

Key words: traumatic brain injury, coma, vagus nerve stimulation, wake-promoting, γ, -aminobutyric acid b1 receptor, rats

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