Abstract 15723: Vagus Nerve Stimulation Reduces Mean Arterial Pressure Through Structural and Electrical Remodeling of the Heart in Dahl Salt-Sensitive Rat Hypertension Model

Hypertension (HTN) is one of the strongest risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, which leads to ventricular hypertrophy, systolic and diastolic dysfunctions. There is a clear need for novel and effective techniques to treat HTN and HTN-induced heart diseases, which are closely linked to autonomic nervous system imbalance. Here, we aimed to evaluate the use of intermittent vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) as a novel therapy for the treatment of HTN. HTN was induced in 6 Dahl salt-sensitive rats after 6 weeks of high salt diet (8% NaCl). Rats were implanted with the pressure monitoring transmitters and either active (VNS, n=3) or non-functional (Sham, n=3) VNS stimulators. Intermittent VNS was activated at week 7, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) was monitored for 4 more weeks. Optical mapping was performed in isolated rat hearts, and action potential durations (APD), intra-ventricular heterogeneity of APD (μ) and conduction velocity (CV) were measured at different pacing cycle lengths (CL) both in right (RV) and left ventricles (LV) (data are shown for CL = 200 ms). HTN was successfully induced in rats as the MAP was significantly increased from week 1 to week 6 (107 ± 0.8 vs 171 ± 9.2 mmHg, p The tibial length normalized to heart weight ratio was reduced in VNS (0.33 ± 0.02 g/cm) in comparison to Sham rats (0.40 ± 0.01 g/cm, p Optical mapping showed that, in VNS rats, APD was larger in LV (75 ± 1.1 ms) in comparison to RV (66 ± 2.5 ms, p Our data indicate that VNS reduces MAP in hypertensive rats and results in beneficial structural and electrical remodeling effects of the heart.