Blood Pressure Modulation With Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Stimulation to the Vagus Nerve: A Pilot Animal Study

Ji，Ning1,2; Lin，Wan Hua1,3; Chen，Fei3; Xu，Lisheng2; Huang，Jianping1; Li，Guanglin1

2020-11-12

10.3389/fnins.2020.586424

Frontiers in Neuroscience   影响因子和分区

1662-4548

1662-453X

Objective: For hypertensive individuals, their blood pressure (BP) is often managed by taking medications. However, antihypertensive drugs might cause adverse effects such as congestive heart failure and are ineffective in significant numbers of the hypertensive population. As an alternative method for hypertension management, non-drug devices-based neuromodulation approaches such as functional electrical stimulation (FES) have been proposed. The FES approach requires the implantation of a stimulator into the body. One recently emerging technique, called low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation (FUS), has been proposed to non-invasively modulate neural activities. In this pilot study, the feasibility of adopting low-intensity FUS neuromodulation for BP regulation was investigated using animal models. Methods: A FUS system was developed for BP modulation in rabbits. For each rabbit, the low-intensity FUS with different acoustic intensities was used to stimulate its exposed left vagus nerve, and the BP waveform was synchronously recorded in its right common carotid artery. The effects of the different FUS intensities on systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean blood pressure (MAP), and heart rate (HR) were extensively examined from the BP recordings. Results: The results demonstrated that the proposed FUS method could successfully induce changes in SBP, DBP, MAP, and HR values. When increasing acoustic intensities, the values of SBP, DBP, and MAP would tend to decrease more substantially. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggested that BP could be modulated through the FUS, which might provide a new way for non-invasive and non-drug management of hypertension.

blood pressure management hypertension animal study low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation neuromodulation vagus nerve

SCI

英语

其他

National Key R&D Program of China[2019YFC1710400][2019YFC1710402] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[U1613222][61901461] ; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation[2020M672701] ; Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province[2019B090915002] ; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities[N181906001]

Neurosciences & Neurology

Neurosciences

WOS:000592238100001

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA

2-s2.0-85096700957

Scopus

1.CAS Key Laboratory of Human-Machine Intelligence-Synergy Systems and Research Center for Neural Engineering,Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT),Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS),SIAT Branch,Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society,Shenzhen,China
2.College of Medicine and Biological Information Engineering,Northeastern University,Shenyang,China
3.Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China

Ji，Ning,Lin，Wan Hua,Chen，Fei,et al. Blood Pressure Modulation With Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Stimulation to the Vagus Nerve: A Pilot Animal Study[J]. Frontiers in Neuroscience,2020,14.

Ji，Ning,Lin，Wan Hua,Chen，Fei,Xu，Lisheng,Huang，Jianping,&Li，Guanglin.(2020).Blood Pressure Modulation With Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Stimulation to the Vagus Nerve: A Pilot Animal Study.Frontiers in Neuroscience,14.

Ji，Ning,et al."Blood Pressure Modulation With Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Stimulation to the Vagus Nerve: A Pilot Animal Study".Frontiers in Neuroscience 14(2020).