Cerebral cortex and hippocampus neural interaction during vagus nerve stimulation under in vivo large-scale imaging

Hanyun Xu; Tingting Jin; Rujin Zhang; Hao Xie; Chaowei Zhuang; Yanyang Zhang; Dongsheng Kong; Guihua Xiao; Xinguang Yu

doi:10.3389/fnins.2023.1131063

Cerebral cortex and hippocampus neural interaction during vagus nerve stimulation under in vivo large-scale imaging

Front Neurosci. 2023 Mar 2:17:1131063. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1131063. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hanyun Xu^{1

2}, Tingting Jin³, Rujin Zhang⁴, Hao Xie⁵, Chaowei Zhuang⁵, Yanyang Zhang², Dongsheng Kong², Guihua Xiao^{5

6}, Xinguang Yu²

Affiliations

¹ Chinese PLA Medical School, Beijing, China.
² Department of Neurosurgery, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
³ Pulmonary and Critical Care Department, Wuhu Hospital of East China Normal University, Wuhu, Anhui, China.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
⁵ Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
⁶ BNRist, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to study mechanisms of VNS modulation from a single neuron perspective utilizing a practical observation platform with single neuron resolution and widefield, real-time imaging coupled with an animal model simultaneously exposing the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus.

Methods: We utilized the observation platform characterized of widefield of view, real-time imaging, and high spatiotemporal resolution to obtain the neuronal activities in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus during VNS in awake states and under anesthesia.

Results: Some neurons in the hippocampus were tightly related to VNS modulation, and varied types of neurons showed distinct responses to VNS modulation.

Conclusion: We utilized such an observation platform coupled with a novel animal model to obtain more information on neuron activities in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, providing an effective method to further study the mechanisms of therapeutic effects modulated by VNS.

Keywords: cerebral cortex; fluorescence microscope; hippocampus; in vivo imaging; neuronal activity; vagus nerve stimulation.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62171254) and the Military Young Scholar Medical Research Fund of Chinese PLA 500 General Hospital (No. QNF19071). The funding acquisition: GX and YZ.