Acute effects of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) settings on neural activity in the nucleus of solitary tract (NTS) in rats

Study Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the effects of the vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) on neural activity in the nucleus of solitary tract (NTS).

Data Collection: Briefly, the multi-unit activity, and local field potential are accessed through multi-channel electrophysiological recording. Stimulation is applied during image acquisition. The configuration of VNS was varied in terms of pulse parameters (amplitude, width) and polarity (proximal or distal coil of a bipolar electrode connected as the cathode, which could be biased for afferent or efferent VNS).

Primary Conclusion: none stated

Curator's Notes

Experimental Design: Five rats were included in this dataset. The purpose of this study is to study how NTS neurons respond to VNS with different parameter settings. To do so, we varied the stimulus parameters in terms of pulse amplitude (PA: 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 2, 3 mA), width (PW: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 ms), and the pulse polarity. The pulse polarity can also be viewed as the current direction of the stimulus. For example, when delivering current through the bipolar electrode, the anode and cathode setting has two options which can result in two polarities of the stimulus. We altered the amplitude, pulse width, and pulse polarity. A total of 70 different parameter settings were tested for a single trail. The recording electrode was moved around to record from different groups of neurons in a single animal. The stimulation trail was repeated multiple times on each animal but for different neurons.

Completeness: This is complete.

Subjects & Samples: This study used adult Sprague-Dawley male rats (n=10) between 6-11 weeks old.

Primary vs derivative data: Primary data is organized per subject name, and contains electrophysiological data with stimulation markers along with txt file describing VNS parameters for each experiment. The derivative folder is also organized per subject name and contains MatLab files with broadband data (LFP) with stimulation markers, high frequency data with stimulation markers and multiple-unit activity, MUA, data for each experimental animal.

Important Notes: The stimulation parameters are being alternated through the experiments. A mat data file is recorded to specify the details of the stimulation parameters and is included in each subject data folder.