Characterization of idiopathic chronic diarrhea and associated intestinal inflammation and preliminary observations of effects of vagal nerve stimulation in a non-human primate.

These macaques exhibit spontaneously occurring diarrhea with intestinal inflammation that can be reduced by VNS. The data demonstrate the utility of this naturally occurring primate model to study the physiology and treatments for chronic diarrhea and the neural control circuits influencing diarrhea and inflammation that are not accessible in human subjects.