Vagal nerve and the gastric mucosal defense

An essential role for an intact vagal nerve has been proven in the development of gastric mucosal cyto- and general protection. On the other hand, chemically-induced (ethanol, HCl, indomethacin) gastric mucosal damage is enhanced after acute surgical vagotomy. The aims of this paper were to study the possible mechanisms of the vagal nerve in the development of gastric mucosal defense. The following questions were addressed: 1) effect of surgical vagotomy on the development of ethanol- (ETOH), HCl-, and indomethacin (IND)-induced gastric mucosal damage; 2) changes in the gastric mucosal defense by scavengers, prostacyclin and other compounds (small doses of atropine and cimetidine: 3) changes in the gastric mucosal vascular permeability due to chemicals; 4) effect of indomethacin in the ETOH and HCl models with and without surgical vagotomy; 5) changes in the gastric mucosal content of prostacyclin and PGE₂ in the ETOH and HCl models after surgical vagotomy; and 6) changes in the role of SH-groups in gastric mucosal defense after surgical vagotomy. It was found that: 1) the gastric mucosal damage produced by chemicals (ETOH, HCl, and indomethacin) was enhanced after surgical vagotomy; 2) the cyto- and general gastric protective effects of β-carotene, prostacyclin, and small doses of atropine and cimetidine disappeared after surgical vagotomy; 3) the vascular permeability due to chemicals (ETOH, HCl, indomethacin) significantly increased after surgical vagotomy in association with an increase in both number and severity of gastric mucosal lesions; 4) IND alone (in animals with an intact vagus) did not produce gastric mucosal lesions (in 1-h experiments), but it aggravated ETOH-induced gastric mucosal damage (both its number and severity); 5) the gastric mucosal levels of prostacyclin and PGE₂ decreased after surgical vagotomy; 6) IND application (after surgical vagotomy) decreased further the tissue levels of prostacyclin and PGE₂ in association with an increase of gastric mucosal damage; and 7) the gastric mucosal protective effects of SH-groups were abolished by surgical vagotomy.     

Acute abdominal vagotomy reduces drinking to peripheral but not central angiotensin II

Rats were tested two or three days after bilateral abdominal vagotomy or a laparotomy control procedure for their drinking responses to subcutaneous (1 mg-kg-1) or intracerebroventricular (100 ng) injections of angiotensin II. Vagotomy delayed the initiation of drinking and decreased 60-min water intake after subcutaneous, but not after intracerebroventricular, angiotensin II. This is the shortest postoperative interval in which the decrease in drinking after systemic injection of angiotensin II by abdominal vagotomy has been observed. The failure of vagotomy to decrease the response to intracerebroventricular angiotensin II demonstrates that the deficit after subcutaneous injection was not a nonspecific effect of recent vagotomy. These results, therefore, suggest that the abdominal vagus is necessary for normal drinking in response to circulating angiotensin II. Furthermore, the selective and acute onset of the deficit is consistent with the loss of a specific, rather than tonic facilitatory, vagal mechanism for drinking after elevation of circulating angiotensin II levels. Finally, the results imply that the physiological mechanisms which mediate the drinking responses to central and peripheral angiotensin are not identical.     

The effect of vagotomy on the increase in food intake induced by the cholecystokinin antagonist, proglumide

Cholecystokinin, secreted when ingested food enters the duodenum, may act as a satiety factor. Injection of proglumide, a specific antagonist of cholecystokinin, induced an increase in food intake. The satiety effect of administered cholecystokinin is abolished by bilateral subdiaphragmatic vagotomy. If endogenous and exogenous cholecystokinin act via the same mechanism, then vagotomy should abolish the proglumide-induced increase in food intake. Proglumide was used to block the satiety effect of a food preload in sham-operated and vagotomized rats. Proglumide induced an increase in food intake in sham-operated rats confirming earlier results. No change in meal size was observed in vagotomized rats following proglumide injection. These results suggest that vagotomy abolishes the effect of endogenous cholecystokinin on food intake. However, evidence of dumping in vagotomized rats prevents the interpretation of the data as a direct vagal involvement in endogenous CCK-induced satiety.     

迷走神经切断和NK3受体拮抗剂干预在辣椒素诱导小鼠咳嗽中的作用

目的:观察右侧迷走神经切断及NK3受体拮抗剂对辣椒素诱导小鼠咳嗽的作用及其机制。方法:将48只小鼠随机分为4组,分别为:右侧迷走神经切断术组、右侧假手术组、SR 142801腹腔注射组和生理盐水对照组。辣椒素雾化制作小鼠咳嗽模型后,分别进行迷走神经切断术、假手术、SR142801腹腔注射及生理盐水腹腔注射,SR142801组及生理盐水对照组腹腔注射每日1次,连续7天。第8天计数各组所有小鼠咳嗽次数,检测所有小鼠肺组织中SP(substance P,P物质)、NKA(neurokinin A,神经肽A)、NKB(neurokinin B,神经肽B)表达水平。结果:右侧迷走神经切断组术后咳嗽次数[(6.92±1.78)次]较术前[(7.83±2.48)次]显著降低(P0.01),较假手术组[(7.58±2.43)次]降低(P0.05)。右侧迷走神经切断组术后SP、NKA、NKB水平较对照组显著降低(P0.05),SR 142810组干预后咳嗽次数[(8.67±1.37)次]较干预前[(8.33±2.15)次]无明显降低(P0.05)。SR 142801组腹腔注射后NKB[(8.32±0.86)pg/m L]较生理盐水对照组[(8.83±0.80)pg/m L]无明显降低(P0.05)。结论:迷走神经切断可以抑制辣椒素诱导的咳嗽,其机制主要与减少迷走神经相关神经肽SP、NKA、NKB的表达有关,而NK3受体拮抗剂SR142801对辣椒素诱导的咳嗽无明显抑制作用。     

The Vagotomy Alleviates the Anorectic Effect of an Excess Amount of Dietary Leucine on Rats Fed a Low-Protein Diet

It is well known that large dose of leucine reduces the food intake and causes growth retardation in experimental animals when leucine is given with a low-protein diet. However, the mechanism for the anorectic effect of leucine has not yet been clarified. We demonstrate here that the anorectic effect of leucine was significantly reduced in a vagotomized rat.     

Effect of truncal vagotomy on pancreatic polypeptide response after intravenous glucose administration

Intravenous glucose infusion was performed in six dogs with and without truncal vagotomy, and plasma pancreatic polypeptide (PP) responses were compared before and after truncal vagotomy. Following truncal vagotomy, basal PP levels decreased significantly from 286 ± 64 pg/ml (mean ± S.E.) to 94 ± 14 pg/ml (P < 0.05). Basal plasma insulin and blood glucose levels also tended to be lower, but not significantly. During the influsion of glucose, blood glucose concentrations rose rapidly in both groups and after 15 min reached peak values which were not significantly different from each other. In the vagotomized group the plasma insulin response to intravenous glucose infusion was significantly lower than in the control group. Following intravenous glucose loading, plasma PP concentrations decreased rapidly in both groups, but the PP level in the vagotomized group was suppressed only to 77 ± 4% of the basal level whereas in the control group it decreased to 45 ± 8%, significantly lower than in the vagotomized group (P < 0.01).These results suggest that basal PP is regulated by vagal tonus and that vagus controls, at least in part, suppression by intravenous glucose administration.     

Electrical activity in the vagus nerves and some medullary nuclei in rats: Changes induced by endotoxin action and hyperthermia evoked by an increase in ambient temperatures

Acute experiments on rats showed that intraperitoneal administration of 5 μg/kg of a bacterial toxin (pyrogenal) increases the afferent impulsation frequency in the cervical segments of vagus nerves, VN (multifiber recording), and frequency of the multineuronal activity in the solitary tract nucleus (STN); these changes were observed during the whole period of recording (10–160 min following toxin injection). Enhancement of the efferent impulsation in the VN and neuronal activity in the dorsal nucleus of the vagus nerve (DNVN) could be observed only 120–130 min after toxin administration. Under these conditions rectal temperature in experimental animals was 1.5° higher than that in control rats throughout the period of recording. Following subdiaphragmatic vagotomy, the afferent impulsation frequency in the cervical VN decreased about four times and kept on decreasing during the whole period of registration. Pyrogenal introduction evoked no changes in the direction of reactions to vagotomy. Under these conditions, body temperature of these animals was 2.5°C higher than in control vagotomized rats by the final stage of recording. Animal heating in a chamber caused no changes in the afferent impulsation frequency and resulted in a decrease in the frequency of VN efferent discharges. Involvement of the VN in the maintenance of temperature homeostasis during fever induced by the endotoxin action and by hyperthermia due to a rise in ambient temperature is discussed. Neirofiziologiya/Neurophysiology, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 112–119, March–April, 2000.     

电刺激弓状核对胃内压的影响及其外周途径分析

选用 Wistar,大鼠68只,乌拉坦麻醉下观察了电刺激弓状核对胃内压的影响。结果为:电刺激弓状核,胃内压显著降低;这一作用被迷走神经切断或腹腔神经丛摘除而减弱;酚妥拉明也能减弱电刺激弓状核的这一作用,但阿托品和心得安对此均无影响;同时去除交感神经和迷走神经时,刺激弓状核的这一作用虽被减弱,但仍然存在。上述结果表明:(1)刺激弓状核降低胃内压的外周神经途径同时涉及交感神经和迷走神经;前者由α-受体介导,后者可能由其中的非胆碱能、非肾上腺素能纤维发挥作用;(2)体液因素可能参与刺激弓状核的这一作用。     

巴豆油所致的腹泻过程中狗小肠电活动的改变

在14只狗小肠浆膜面埋植Ag-AgCl双极电极,以消化间期综合肌电(IDMEC)为指标,经胃管向胃内注入10％巴豆油。结果如下:(1)巴豆油注入胃内后,即诱发一起源于十二指肠、沿小肠向其尾端移行、持续时间比正常IDMECⅢ相短(p<0.01)、而传导速度却较正常Ⅲ相快(p<0.01)的类Ⅲ相。(2)巴豆油注入胃内后,正常IDMEC周期即被中断117～234min不等。与正常IDMEC周期相比,恢复后IDMEC周期缩短(p<0.05)。(3)分别阻断α与β受休后,巴豆油胃内注入所诱发的类Ⅲ相及对IDMEC周期的影响均与单纯胃内注入巴豆油所引起的改变相似。双侧膈上迷走神经切除后,巴豆油仍能诱发类Ⅲ相,但其出现的潜伏时间明显延长(p<0.001),并在384.9±75.3min内未见IDMEc周期恢复。结果提示:巴豆油胃内注入所诱发的类Ⅲ相及对IDMEC周期的影响与α和β受体无关。迷走神经起一定的调节作用。巴豆油胃内注入所诱发的类Ⅲ相及所引起的IDMEC周期缩短可能是导致腹泻发生的原因之一。     

Effect of truncal vagotomy on intestinal phase of pancreatic polypeptide release in dogs

In order to elucidate the role of the vagus nerve in the intestinal phase of pancreatic polypeptide (PP) release, mongrel dogs were given a 4-min intraduodenal infusion of saline, 20% glucose, or 10% soybean oil solution (50 ml each), before and one month after truncal vagotomy including pyloroplasty (TV). The saline infusion did not change the basal PP level, while the glucose infusion elicited a monophasic transient PP release, and the soybean oil infusion elicited a monophasic prolonged PP release in the intact dogs. The PP response following glucose infusion was almost abolished after TV, while the PP response to fat was attenuated, but a significant increase was nevertheless observed after TV. These results suggest that the vagus nerve has an important role in the intestinal phase of PP release and that other factors, e.g. hormonal, might also be involved in the regulatory mechanism, especially after fat loading.