PMID- 23028630
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20130305
LR  - 20211021
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 7
IP  - 9
DP  - 2012
TI  - Vagus nerve stimulation reduces body weight and fat mass in rats.
PG  - e44813
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0044813 [doi]
LID - e44813
AB  - Among the manifold effects of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) delivered as an 
      add-on treatment to patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, a moderate loss of 
      body weight has been observed in some individuals. We have now investigated this 
      effect in rats. Exposure of rats to VNS for 4 weeks reduced feed conversion 
      efficiency as well as body weight gain (by  approximately 25%) and the amount of mesenteric 
      adipose tissue (by  approximately 45%) in comparison with those in sham-operated control 
      animals. A pair-fed experiment showed that both lower dietary intake and increase 
      energy expenditure independently contributed to the reduction of body weight and 
      mesenteric adipose tissue. Moreover, VNS increased the level of non-esterified 
      fatty acids in plasma and mesenteric adipose tissue by  approximately 50 and 80%, respectively, 
      without affecting that in the liver. In addition, VNS reduced the amounts of 
      endocannabinoids and increased N-palmitoylethanolamide, an endogenous ligand of 
      the transcription factor PPARalpha (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha) in 
      mesenteric adipose tissue but not in the hypothalamus. These effects were 
      accompanied by increased expression of the gene for brain-derived neurotrophic 
      factor (BDNF) in the hypothalamus and up-regulation of the abundance of PPARalpha in 
      the liver. Our results suggest that the reduction in body fat induced by VNS in 
      rats may result from the action of both central and peripheral mediators. The 
      reduced feed conversion efficiency associated with VNS may be mediated by 
      hypothalamic BDNF, down-regulation of endocannabinoid tone in mesenteric adipose 
      tissue and a PPARalpha-dependent increase in fatty acid oxidation in the liver, which 
      in concerted action may account for the anorexic effect and increased energy 
      expenditure.
FAU - Banni, Sebastiano
AU  - Banni S
AD  - Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy. 
      banni@unica.it
FAU - Carta, Gianfranca
AU  - Carta G
FAU - Murru, Elisabetta
AU  - Murru E
FAU - Cordeddu, Lina
AU  - Cordeddu L
FAU - Giordano, Elena
AU  - Giordano E
FAU - Marrosu, Francesco
AU  - Marrosu F
FAU - Puligheddu, Monica
AU  - Puligheddu M
FAU - Floris, Gabriele
AU  - Floris G
FAU - Asuni, Gino Paolo
AU  - Asuni GP
FAU - Cappai, Angela Letizia
AU  - Cappai AL
FAU - Deriu, Silvia
AU  - Deriu S
FAU - Follesa, Paolo
AU  - Follesa P
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20120928
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
RN  - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)
RN  - 0 (Endocannabinoids)
RN  - 0 (Fatty Acids, Nonesterified)
RN  - 0 (PPAR alpha)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adipose Tissue/*metabolism
MH  - Animal Feed
MH  - Animals
MH  - *Body Weight
MH  - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/genetics
MH  - Endocannabinoids/metabolism
MH  - Fatty Acids, Nonesterified/metabolism
MH  - Gene Expression Regulation
MH  - Hypothalamus/metabolism
MH  - Liver/metabolism
MH  - Male
MH  - PPAR alpha/metabolism
MH  - Rats
MH  - Rats, Sprague-Dawley
MH  - Time Factors
MH  - Vagus Nerve Stimulation/*adverse effects
PMC - PMC3460935
COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2012/10/03 06:00
MHDA- 2013/03/06 06:00
PMCR- 2012/09/28
CRDT- 2012/10/03 06:00
PHST- 2011/12/10 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2012/08/14 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2012/10/03 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2012/10/03 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/03/06 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2012/09/28 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-11-24769 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0044813 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44813. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044813. Epub 2012 Sep 28.