Gait assessment in a female rat Sprague Dawley model of disc-associated low back pain.

Purpose: Gait disturbances are common in human low back pain (LBP) patients, suggesting potential applicability to rodent LBP models. This study aims to assess the influence of disc-associated LBP on gait in female Sprague Dawley rats and explore the utility of the open-source Gait Analysis Instrumentation and Technology Optimized for Rodents (GAITOR) suite as a potential alternative tool for spontaneous pain assessment in a previously established LBP model.

Materials And Methods: Disc degeneration was surgically induced using a one-level disc scrape injury method, and microcomputed tomography was used to assess disc volume loss.

Vagotomy accelerates the onset of symptoms during early disease progression and worsens joint-level pathogenesis in a male rat model of chronic knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: Low vagal tone is common in osteoarthritis (OA) comorbidities and results in greater peripheral inflammation. Characterizing vagal tone's role in OA pathogenesis may offer insights into OA's influences beyond the articular joint. We hypothesized that low vagal tone would accelerate onset of OA-related gait changes and worsen joint damage in a rat knee OA model.

Hypertension contributes to exacerbated osteoarthritis pathophysiology in rats in a sex-dependent manner.

Background: Hypertension is a common comorbidity of osteoarthritis (OA) with known autonomic dysregulation; thus, the autonomic nervous system may provide a shared underlying mechanism. The objective of this study was to examine the role of the autonomic nervous system in a preclinical model of OA and hypertension.

Methods: Experiments were conducted in spontaneously hypertensive rats and a normotensive control strain, including male and female rats.

Neuromodulation as a Potential Disease-Modifying Therapy for Osteoarthritis.

Purpose Of Review: The following review discusses the therapeutic potential of targeting the autonomic nervous system (ANS) for osteoarthritis (OA) treatment and encourages the field to consider the candidacy of bioelectronic medicine as a novel OA treatment strategy.

Recent Findings: The study of OA pathogenesis has focused on changes occurring at the joint level. As such, treatments for OA have been aimed at the local joint environment, intending to resolve local inflammation and decrease pain.

Autonomic Nervous System Dysregulation and Osteoarthritis Pain: Mechanisms, Measurement, and Future Outlook.

Purpose Of Review: The autonomic nervous system is an important regulator of stress responses and exhibits functional changes in chronic pain states. This review discusses potential overlap among autonomic dysregulation, osteoarthritis (OA) progression, and chronic pain. From this foundation, we then discuss preclinical to clinical research opportunities to close gaps in our knowledge of autonomic dysregulation and OA.

Cardiac Autonomic Function in the First Hours of Postnatal Life: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study in Term Neonates.

The aim of this study was to evaluate heart rate variability (HRV) within the first hours of extrauterine life in term neonates. HRV at 2-h and 14-h postpartum were compared by means of time domains (iRR, SDNN, and rMSSD); frequency domains (TP, LF, HF, and LF/HF ratio); and Poincare's Plot (SD1 and SD2) indices of HRV in 27 healthy, male, term newborns (NBs) born of elective cesarean delivery. Within 14 h after birth, the mean of the iRRs increased (Δ% = 4.