Effect of electric vagal stimulation on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats / 中华麻醉学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effect of electric vagal stimulation on myocardial ischemia-reperfu-sion (I/R) injury in rats.Methods Forty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats,aged 4-5 months,weighing 180-220 g,were randomly divided into 3 groups (n =15 each)sham operation group (S group),I/R group,electric vagal stimulation group (EVS group).Myocardial I/R was induced by occlusion of left anterior descending branch of coronary artery for 30 min followed by 120 min reperfusion in I/R and EVS groups.In group EVS,the left cervical vagus nerve trank was stimulated for 30 min with continuous electric pulses (5 V,2 ms,10 Hz) starting from 10 min before reperfusion until 10 min of reperfusion.The animals were sacrificed at the end of 120 min reperfusion and the hearts were removed for determination of the infarct size,TNF-α and IL-6 contents and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in myocardial tissues.Results Compared with group S,the infarct size was significantly enlarged,and TNF-α and IL-6 contents and MPO activity were increased in I/R and EVS groups (P ＜ 0.05).The infarct size was significantly smaller,TNF-α and IL-6 contents and MPO activity were lower in EVS group than in I/R group (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Electric vagal stimulation can reduce myocardial I/R injury in rats and activation of cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway is involved in the mechanism.