Author: Buell EP1, Borland MS2, Loerwald KW2, Chandler C3, Hays SA4, Engineer CT2, Kilgard MP2
Affiliation:
1Texas Biomedical Device Center, Richardson, TX 75080, United States of America; The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral Brain Sciences, 800 West Campbell Road, GR 41, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, United States of America. Electronic address: ebuell@utdallas.edu.
2Texas Biomedical Device Center, Richardson, TX 75080, United States of America; The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral Brain Sciences, 800 West Campbell Road, GR 41, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, United States of America.
3The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral Brain Sciences, 800 West Campbell Road, GR 41, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, United States of America.
4Texas Biomedical Device Center, Richardson, TX 75080, United States of America; The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral Brain Sciences, 800 West Campbell Road, GR 41, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, United States of America; The University of Texas at Dallas, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, BSB 11; Richardson, TX 75080, United States of America.
Conference/Journal: Neuroscience.
Date published: 2019 Mar 20
Other:
Pages: S0306-4522(19)30170-8 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.03.019. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 258
Repeatedly pairing a brief train of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) with an auditory stimulus drives reorganization of primary auditory cortex (A1), and the magnitude of this VNS-dependent plasticity is dependent on the stimulation parameters, including intensity and pulse rate. However, there is currently little data to guide the selection of VNS train durations, an easily adjusted parameter that could influence the effect of VNS-based therapies. Here, we tested the effect of varying the duration of the VNS train on the extent of VNS-dependent cortical plasticity. Rats were exposed to a 9 kHz tone 300 times per day for 20 days. Coincident with tone presentation, groups received trains of 4, 16, or 64 pulses of VNS delivered at 30 Hz, corresponding to train durations of 0.125 s, 0.5 s, and 2.0 s, respectively. High-density microelectrode mapping of A1 revealed that 0.5 s duration VNS trains significantly increased the number of neurons in A1 that responded to tones near the paired tone frequency. Trains lasting 0.125 or 2.0 s failed to alter A1 responses, indicating that both shorter and longer stimulation durations are less effective at enhancing plasticity. A second set of experiments evaluating the effect of delivering 4 or 64 pulses in a fixed 0.5 s VNS train duration paired with tone presentation reveal that both slower and faster stimulation rates are less effective at enhancing plasticity. We incorporated these results with previous findings describing the effect of stimulation parameters on VNS-dependent plasticity and activation of neuromodulatory networks to generate a model of synaptic activation by VNS.
Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
KEYWORDS: auditory cortex; duration; plasticity; pulses; vagal nerve stimulation
PMID: 30904665 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.03.019
