Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation induces tidal melatonin secretion and has an antidiabetic effect in Zucker fatty rats.
Kristen Sparrow • May 21, 2018
This study came up on my feed, and even though a few years old, the melatonin piece plus the possible help for diabetes make it worthy of its own blog post. I’ve given my own version of TAVNS devices to some patients to use at home. Like many self care items, people often don’t end up using them consistently. This paper gives more motivation than ever to use the device daily!
PLoS One. 2015 Apr 16;10(4):e0124195.
Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation induces tidal melatonin secretion and has an antidiabetic effect in Zucker fatty rats.
Wang S1, Zhai X2, Li S2, McCabe MF3, Wang X4, Rong P2.
Author information
Abstract
Melatonin plays a protective role in type 2 diabetes (T2D) through regulation of glucose metabolism. Whether transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is antidiabetic and whether a modulated melatonin production is involved in the antidiabetic mechanism of taVNS is unknown. In this study, once daily 30 min noninvasive taVNS was administered in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF, fa/fa) and Zucker lean (ZL, +/fa) littermates under anesthesia for 5 consecutive weeks. The acute and chronic influences of taVNS on the secretion of melatonin were studied as well as the effects of taVNS on blood glucose metabolism. We found that naïve ZDF rats develop hyperglycemia naturally with age. Each taVNS session would trigger a tidal secretion of melatonin both during and after the taVNS procedure and induce an acute two-phase glycemic change, a steep increase followed by a gradual decrease. Once daily taVNS sessions eventually reduced the glucose concentration to a normal level in seven days and effectively maintained the normal glycemic and plasma glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc) levels when applied for five consecutive weeks. These beneficial effects of taVNS also exist in pinealectomized rats, which otherwise would show overt and continuous hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and high HbAlc levels. We concluded that multiple taVNS sessions are antidiabetic in T2D through triggering of tidal secretion of melatonin. This finding may have potential importance in developing new approaches to the treatment of T2D, which is highly prevalent, incurable with any current approaches, and very costly to the world.
PLoS One. 2015 Apr 16;10(4):e0124195. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124195. eCollection 2015.
Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation induces tidal melatonin secretion and has an antidiabetic effect in Zucker fatty rats.
Wang S1, Zhai X2, Li S2, McCabe MF3, Wang X4, Rong P2.
Author information
Abstract
Melatonin plays a protective role in type 2 diabetes (T2D) through regulation of glucose metabolism. Whether transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is antidiabetic and whether a modulated melatonin production is involved in the antidiabetic mechanism of taVNS is unknown. In this study, once daily 30 min noninvasive taVNS was administered in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF, fa/fa) and Zucker lean (ZL, +/fa) littermates under anesthesia for 5 consecutive weeks. The acute and chronic influences of taVNS on the secretion of melatonin were studied as well as the effects of taVNS on blood glucose metabolism. We found that naïve ZDF rats develop hyperglycemia naturally with age. Each taVNS session would trigger a tidal secretion of melatonin both during and after the taVNS procedure and induce an acute two-phase glycemic change, a steep increase followed by a gradual decrease. Once daily taVNS sessions eventually reduced the glucose concentration to a normal level in seven days and effectively maintained the normal glycemic and plasma glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc) levels when applied for five consecutive weeks. These beneficial effects of taVNS also exist in pinealectomized rats, which otherwise would show overt and continuous hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and high HbAlc levels. We concluded that multiple taVNS sessions are antidiabetic in T2D through triggering of tidal secretion of melatonin. This finding may have potential importance in developing new approaches to the treatment of T2D, which is highly prevalent, incurable with any current approaches, and very costly to the world.
