Effects of vagal afferent blockade on gastric motility during cervical vagus nerve stimulation measured with magnetic resonance imaging in rats

Study Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the effects of cervical VNS on gastric motility in rats. The aim is to selectively activate or block the afferent pathway to disentangle their differential effects on gastric responses.

Data Collection: A multi‐slice MRI sequence was used to scan antral contractions with high spatial and temporal resolution. The configuration of vagus nerve stimulation, VNS, was varied in terms of pulse parameters (amplitude, width, and frequency).

Primary Conclusion: None stated.

Curator's Notes

Experimental Design: Four experiments were performed in this study. In the first study, researchers tested the brain response to low dose GES (current=0.6mA, pulse width=0.2ms, frequency=5Hz), which followed a 20s-ON-40s-OFF stimulation pattern. In the second study, researchers switched to high dose GES (current=6mA, pulse width=0.3ms, frequency=20Hz), which followed a 2s-ON-3s-OFF stimulation pattern. In the third and fourth study, they performed bilateral cervical vagotomy for each animal and repeated the simulation described in the first and second study respectively. Experimental animals were divided into two experimental groups: the Control group that did not receive any stimulation and the VNS group that was subjected to vagus nerve stimulation.

Completeness: This is a part of a larger study: Effects of vagal efferent blockade on gastric motility and emptying during cervical vagus nerve stimulation measured with MRI

Subjects & Samples: This study used adult Sprague-Dawley (RRID:RGD_70508) male rats (n=14) between 6-11 weeks old.

Primary vs derivative data: Primary data is organized by the subject ID. Each subject folder contains 3D+ time motility MRI data before onset and during various vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) parameters. Derivered data consists of segmentation of antrum and antral motility maps for each of the experimental subjects.