Data de publicació electrònica: 31-12-2019

Background: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) using non-invasive approaches have attracted great attention due to their anti-epileptic, anti-depressive and pro-cognitive effects. It has been proposed that auricular transcutaneous VNS (atVNS) could benefit intellectual disability disorders, but preclinical data supporting this idea is limited. Objective: To develop an atVNS device for mice and to test its efficacy on memory performance in naïve mice and in a mouse model for intellectual disability. Methods: Naïve outbreed CD-1 mice and a model for fragile X syndrome, the Fmr1 knockout (Fmr1KO), were used to assess the effect of atVNS in the novel object-recognition memory performance. Results: We found that atVNS significantly improves memory persistence in naïve mice. Notably, atVNS was efficacious in normalizing the object-recognition memory deficit in the Fmr1KO model. Conclusion: Our data show that atVNS improves memory persistence in naïve mice and in a model of intellectual disability and support further studies taking advantage of preclinical mouse models of cognitive disorders.

This work was supported by a Predoctoral fellowship from Jerome Lejeune Foundation (Spanish division) (A.V.-O.) and from “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434), LCF/BQ/IN18/11660012 and European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Slodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 713673 (C.B.-P.). Ministerio de Economía, Innovación y Competitividad (MINECO) [#RTI2018-099282-B-I00 to A.O., #SAF2017-84060-R to R.M.]; the Instituto de Salud Carlos III [#RD16/0017/0020 to R.M.]; the Generalitat de Catalunya [2017SGR-669 to R.M.]; the ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats) Acadèmia to A.O., A.I. and R.M.; Grant “Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu”, funded by the MINECO [#MDM-2014-0370]; PLAN E (Plan Español para el Estímulo de la Economía y el Empleo). FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional) funding is also acknowledged