Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) preventing postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD): two potential mechanisms in cognitive function.

ABSTRACT

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) impacts a significant number of patients annually, frequently impairing their cognitive abilities and resulting in unfavorable clinical outcomes. Aimed at addressing cognitive impairment, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a therapeutic approach, which was used in many mental disordered diseases, through the modulation of vagus nerve activity. In POCD model, the enhancement of cognition function provided by VNS was shown, demonstrating VNS effect on cognition in POCD. In the present study, we primarily concentrates on elucidating the role of the VNS improving the cognitive function in POCD, via two potential mechanisms the inflammatory microenvironment and epigenetics. This study provided a theoretical support for the feasibility that VNS can be a potential method to enhance cognition function in POCD.