Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach

Abstract Sensory and sympathetic nerves have been shown to promote the progression of endometriosis through the release of neuromediators and the lesional activation of respective receptors. The role of vagus nerves (VN) in lesional progression, however, is completely unclear, despite the signs sugg...

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Main Authors:	Meihua Hao, Xishi Liu, Peijing Rong, Shaoyuan Li, Sun-Wei Guo
Format:	article
Language:	EN
Published:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Subjects:	Medicine R Science Q
Online Access:	https://doaj.org/article/26d656251fdc410283ab005b8e48ad84
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:26d656251fdc410283ab005b8e48ad842021-12-02T14:01:19ZReduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach10.1038/s41598-020-79750-92045-2322https://doaj.org/article/26d656251fdc410283ab005b8e48ad842021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79750-9https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Sensory and sympathetic nerves have been shown to promote the progression of endometriosis through the release of neuromediators and the lesional activation of respective receptors. The role of vagus nerves (VN) in lesional progression, however, is completely unclear, despite the signs suggestive of increased sympathetic tone in women with endometriosis. This study was undertaken to investigate whether VN plays any role in the progression of endometriosis. We recruited 45 patients with endometriosis and 42 healthy women, who were given electrocardiogram test and their heart rate variability was evaluated. In addition, three prospective, and randomized mouse experiments were conducted that evaluated, respectively, the effect of vagotomy, the effect of VN stimulation (VNS), and the therapeutic potential of VNS after the endometriosis was well established. All lesions were excised, weighed, and processed for immunohistochemistry and histochemistry analysis of select markers for lesional progression and fibrosis. We found that endometriosis patients exhibited reduced vagal activity as compared with controls, indicative of disrupted autonomic balance. Vagotomy increased while VNS decreased the lesion weight as compared with control mice, concomitant with more progressive and retarded lesion development and fibrogenesis, respectively. In addition, VNS demonstrated promising therapeutic effect, as evidenced by significantly reduced lesion weight, more attenuated lesional progression concomitant with improved hyperalgesia. Taken together, our data indicate that VN activity may play a dampening role in the progression of endometriosis. Consequently, boosting the VN activity may have therapeutic potentials for patients with endometriosis.Meihua HaoXishi LiuPeijing RongShaoyuan LiSun-Wei GuoNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Meihua Hao Xishi Liu Peijing Rong Shaoyuan Li Sun-Wei Guo Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach
description	Abstract Sensory and sympathetic nerves have been shown to promote the progression of endometriosis through the release of neuromediators and the lesional activation of respective receptors. The role of vagus nerves (VN) in lesional progression, however, is completely unclear, despite the signs suggestive of increased sympathetic tone in women with endometriosis. This study was undertaken to investigate whether VN plays any role in the progression of endometriosis. We recruited 45 patients with endometriosis and 42 healthy women, who were given electrocardiogram test and their heart rate variability was evaluated. In addition, three prospective, and randomized mouse experiments were conducted that evaluated, respectively, the effect of vagotomy, the effect of VN stimulation (VNS), and the therapeutic potential of VNS after the endometriosis was well established. All lesions were excised, weighed, and processed for immunohistochemistry and histochemistry analysis of select markers for lesional progression and fibrosis. We found that endometriosis patients exhibited reduced vagal activity as compared with controls, indicative of disrupted autonomic balance. Vagotomy increased while VNS decreased the lesion weight as compared with control mice, concomitant with more progressive and retarded lesion development and fibrogenesis, respectively. In addition, VNS demonstrated promising therapeutic effect, as evidenced by significantly reduced lesion weight, more attenuated lesional progression concomitant with improved hyperalgesia. Taken together, our data indicate that VN activity may play a dampening role in the progression of endometriosis. Consequently, boosting the VN activity may have therapeutic potentials for patients with endometriosis.
format	article
author	Meihua Hao Xishi Liu Peijing Rong Shaoyuan Li Sun-Wei Guo
author_facet	Meihua Hao Xishi Liu Peijing Rong Shaoyuan Li Sun-Wei Guo
author_sort	Meihua Hao
title	Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach
title_short	Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach
title_full	Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach
title_fullStr	Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach
title_full_unstemmed	Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach
title_sort	reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/26d656251fdc410283ab005b8e48ad84
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Reduced vagal tone in women with endometriosis and auricular vagus nerve stimulation as a potential therapeutic approach

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