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Neural Engineering

Neural Engineering - Poster Session A

Poster Z11 - Age associated changes in brain phospholipids are mitigated by vagus nerve stimulation

Thursday, October 24, 2024
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Location: Exhibit Hall E, F & G

Introduction: Phospholipids play a crucial role in brain functions, including neuronal communication and synaptic plasticity. Brain phospholipid composition changes in aging and neurodegenerative diseases and has been implicated in cognitive decline. The goals of this study were to characterize exactly how aging alters the spatially-resolved brain lipidome and to determine the degree to which such age changes are modifiable with chronic vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in different brain regions.

Materials and

Methods: Brains from young (4 months) and aged (24 months) Fischer 344 x Brown Norway F1 hybrid rats were processed for spatial lipidomics by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) imaging. We next determined the extent to which these age-related changes were modifiable by VNS. A separate cohort of aged (24 months) Fischer 344 x Brown Norway F1 hybrid rats were surgically implanted with a VNS cuff electrode around the left vagus nerve. After recovery, rats received 30 days of VNS using stimulation parameters (100 stimulus trains over 1 hr; 30Hz, 120 µS pulse width, 700 µA, 0.8 s train duration) previously shown to enhance cortical plasticity. MALDI-IMS imaging compared the lipidome between rats receiving VNS or sham stimulation.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Relative to young, aged rats had increased long chain highly saturated phospholipid species, which are typically associated with inflammation and oxidative stress. In contrast, aged rats had reduced long chain unsaturated phospholipid species, which are generally neuroprotective. Overall, VNS mitigated many of the age-associated changes in phospholipid composition, indicating both that lipid composition is highly modifiable - even in the aged brain - and that VNS has potential to reverse age-related changes in brain lipid metabolism. Additional spatial analysis is ongoing to characterize regionally-specific effects of aging and VNS on the brain lipidome.

Acknowledgements (Optional):