The effect of modified pharyngeal electrical stimulation on the gene expression profile of the brainstem in rats after brainstem ischemia.

The therapeutic mechanism of modified pharyngeal electrical stimulation (mPES) for swallowing disorders in rats after cerebral ischemia remains unclear. Here, we validated the therapeutic efficacy of mPES for swallowing disorders in rats after brainstem ischemia and analyzed changes in gene expression profiles at the brainstem single-cell level using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Overall design: To investigate the mechanism by which mPES improves swallowing function in rats with swallowing disorders following brainstem ischemia, scRNA-seq analysis was performed on brainstem ischemic dysphagia model rats, either treated or untreated with mPES. The rats were divided into two groups, the Brainstem ischemia group and the mPES group, with two rats in each group. Comparative gene expression profiling analysis was conducted on the single-cell sequencing data from both groups.