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. 2019 Jul;26(7):245–251. doi: 10.1101/lm.048447.118

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© 2019 Noble et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the first 12 months after the full-issue publication date (see http://learnmem.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After 12 months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

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Figure 2. — Peripheral vagal blockade reverses VNS-induced reduction in anxiety. (A) Illustration of the systemic injections, stimulation and EPM procedures. Rats were given I.P. injections of either saline or the peripherally acting muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist methyl-scop (0.1 mg/kg). Fifteen minutes after injection, a single noncontingent train of VNS or sham stimulation was administered in the home cage. Rats were then subjected to EPM testing 10 min later. Increased time spent in the open arms indicated a reduction in anxiety. (B) Intraperitoneal administration of Methyl scopolamine (Methyl-scop) before stimulation blocks the anxiolytic effect of VNS. In rats treated with saline, VNS led to a significant increase in time spent in the open arms (vs. sham stimulated rats). However, in rats treated with methyl-scop, this effect was reversed. Methyl-scop-treated rats given VNS showed no difference in time spent in the open arms versus methyl-scop-treated rats given sham stimulation, but saline-treated rats given VNS spent significantly more time in the open arms than methyl-scop-treated rats given VNS. (C) Intraperitoneal administration of Methyl scopolamine (Methyl-scop) before stimulation does not change general locomotion. No significant differences were seen in time spent moving in the EPM. Vertical bars represent the mean ± SEM. Small circles indicate individual data points. (*) P < 0.05.