Following a difficult surgery, some patients end up experiencing cognitive decline and delirium, which seems to arise from inflammatory changes in the brain, that are still poorly understood. This inflammation is difficult to control in a targeted way, but researchers at Duke University seem to have discovered that electrical nerve stimulation may do the trick.
The investigators have been using vagus nerve stimulation, the same method that is now common to control epilepsy, chronic pain, and drug resistant depression, among other conditions. In a study on lab mice with serious inflammation, an electronic lead was placed so as to be able to stimulate the vagus nerve from an external device. The mice were then subjected to a single session of nerve stimulation that only lasted a few minutes. During and after the treatment the inflammation was monitored, in addition to the heart rate and muscle twitching. The mice treated showed much better outcomes compared to their control cousins, including cognitive ability and significantly lower inflammation of the brain.
The research has great implication for the potential to reduce the consequences of difficult surgeries, particularly in older people that tend to suffer disproportionally from brain inflammation post-op.
Study in journal Brain Stimulation: Modulation of Neuroinflammation and Memory Dysfunction using Percutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Mice…
Via: Duke…
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