Key result
taVNS cuts depression-like behavior ~58% and halts hyperglycemia progression in diabetic rats.
Why the study?
Does transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation improve depressive-like behavior and hyperglycemia in Zucker diabetic fatty rats?
Population
Six-week-old male Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF, fa/fa) rats and Zucker lean (ZL, fa/+) littermates (n=27)
Comparison
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation… vs Naïve (no taVNS)
Design
Preclinical, randomly divided
Follow-up
35 days
Authors
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taVNS effects in diabetic rats warrant human trials for comorbid depression and hyperglycemia; leaves open clinical translation.
Does transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation improve depressive-like behavior and hyperglycemia in Zucker diabetic fatty rats?
Absolute Event Rate: 36.625% vs 87.833%
p-value: p=<0.01
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation may simultaneously ameliorate depressive-like behavior and hyperglycemia in a diabetic rat model, potentially via insulin receptor upregulation.
Li et al. (2014) studied Type 2 diabetes and depression comorbidity (animal model) (n=27). Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) vs. Naïve (no stimulation) was evaluated on Immobility time in forced swimming test on day 35 (seconds) (p=<0.01). Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation simultaneously prevented the development of depression-like behavior, reducing immobility time from 87.8 to 36.6 seconds (p<0.01), and halted the progression of hyperglycemia in Zucker diabetic fatty rats.
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