Abstract
Background
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic progressive intestinal
inflammation. Sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) ameliorates colon inflammation caused
by IBD. The aim of this study was to investigate the antiinflammatory benefits of
SNS in colitis rats and explore the roles of the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway,
macrophage autophagy, and nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptor thermal
protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammatory bodies.
Materials and Methods
Rats were divided into four groups: healthy control, dextran sulfate sodium (DSS),
DSS + sham-SNS, and DSS + SNS groups. An electrode was surgically placed in the right
sacral nerve (S3) for stimulation. The disease activity index (DAI) score was recorded
each day, and the degree of inflammatory injury was evaluated using hematoxylin and
eosin staining. The alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) and autophagy-
and NLRP3-related factors were assessed using immunofluorescence staining and Western
blotting.
Results
The DSS group showed a higher DAI score, colon shortening, upregulated proinflammatory
action, and colon damage, and the DSS + SNS group showed significantly improved symptoms.
The number of α7nAChR+ cells and the expression level of autophagy decreased in the
DSS group but increased in the DSS + SNS group. Conversely, the DSS group showed increased
activation of NLRP3 inflammatory bodies, whereas the DSS + SNS group showed decreased
activation of NLRP3 inflammatory bodies.
Conclusion
In this study, SNS ameliorated colon inflammation by enhancing macrophage autophagy
and inhibiting the activation of NLRP3 inflammatory bodies, which may be related to
the opening of the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway.
Keywords
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Comments
Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 03, 2023
Accepted:
January 7,
2023
Received in revised form:
December 16,
2022
Received:
October 23,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
Source(s) of financial support: This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (number 81700472), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (number ZR2022MH153), and Clinical +X Project Fund of Binzhou Medical College (number BY2021LCX01).
Conflict of Interest: The authors reported no conflict of interest.
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© 2023 International Neuromodulation Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
