Acute electrical stimulation of nucleus ambiguus enhances immune function in rats

作者：Mei Ying Wu; Yang Zhan Qing; Wang Wei; Song De Guang; Deng Xu Ming; Liu Ju Xiong^*

来源：Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 2008, 35(4): 441-447.

Background: Up to now, many "immunoactive" brain areas have been identified, such as hypothalamic nuclei, brain reward system; but the nucleus ambiguous (Amb), nucleus nervi vagis of medulla oblongata, was less well studied in neuroimmunomodulation. Methods: In order to obtain more profound comprehension and more knowledge on Amb, we studied the effect of acute electrical stimulation of Amb on thymus and spleen activity in rat. A stimulator was applied to stimulate the Amb of the anaesthetic rats using the parameter at 100 mu Ax5ms x 100 Hz every is for 1 min. The levels of TGF-beta and thymosin-beta 4 mRNA in thymus, the release of IL-2 and IL-6 at splenocyte in vitro and splenic lymphocyte proliferation were measured at hour 0.5,1,2,3 following the electrical stimulation. Results: The results showed that concanavalin A (Con A)-induced splenic lymphocyte proliferation and the release of IL-2 and IL-6 were all significantly enhanced at 0.5, I, and 2 h following effective Amb Stimulation as compared to in the control group. However, as compared to in the control group, the levels of TGF-beta and thymosin-beta 4 mRNA in the thymus were both remarkably reduced at 0.5, 1, and 2 h following effective Amb stimulation. Conclusions: These findings reveal that the Amb participates in the modulation of animal immune functions.

• 出版日期2008-9
• 单位吉林大学