Chronic Low-Level Vagus Nerve Stimulation Improves Long-Term Survival in Salt-Sensitive Hypertensive Rats.

ABSTRACT: Chronic hypertension (HTN) affects more than 1 billion people worldwide, and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Despite decades of promising research, effective treatment of HTN remains challenging. This work investigates vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) as a novel, device-based therapy for HTN treatment, and specifically evaluates its effects on long-term survival and HTN-associated adverse effects. HTN was induced in Dahl salt-sensitive rats using a high-salt diet, and the rats were randomly divided into two groups: VNS (n = 9) and Sham (n = 8), which were implanted with functional or non-functional VNS stimulators, respectively. Acute and chronic effects of VNS therapy were evaluated through continuous monitoring of blood pressure (BP) and ECG via

SUBMITTER: Annoni EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6365472 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature