BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Autonomic Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1568261
Vagal Nerve Signals are modulated by Spontaneous Seizures in Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rats from Strasbourg
Provisionally accepted
Elise Collard1*
Enrique Germany1
Elena Acedo Reina1
Ayse Sumeyra Dereli1
Auriane Apaire1
Antoine Nonclercq2Riem El Tahry1,3- 1Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- 2Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- 3Clinique Universitaire St Luc, Brussels, Belgium
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One-third of epileptic patients are resistant to conventional treatments. Vagus nerve stimulation is a promising therapy, especially when applied early during seizure onset. This study explores vagus nerve activity (VNA) during seizures in Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rat from Strasbourg (GAERS) model and explores how VNA changes with epilepsy duration. Eleven rats (4, 6, and 10 months old, n=4, 4, 3 respectively) were continuously recorded with electroencephalography, VNA recordings, and video for 24h. Ictal VNA root mean square (RMS) values preceded by NREM sleep extracted from 11 rats were studied in a total of 620 seizures.Overall, VNA RMS increased during seizures, with a median rise of 60%. However, this modulation decreased with age, despite stable seizure severity. Significant differences in VNA activity and inter-quartile range were observed between age groups.These results support seizure severity-dependent changes in ictal VNA modulation and point toward the potential of VNA as a biomarker for seizure detection and autonomic dysfunction.
Keywords: Vagus Nerve Activity (VNA), GAERS (Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rats from Strasbourg), absence seizure, Autonomic dysfonction, Parasympathetic, NREM (Non REM) sleep, age
Received: 29 Jan 2025; Accepted: 11 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Collard, Germany, Acedo Reina, Dereli, Apaire, Nonclercq and El Tahry. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Elise Collard, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
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