Cognitive function and brain activation before and after transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation in healthy adults: A concurrent tcVNS-fMRI study

Abstract

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation, which involves the application of electrical currents to the cervical (tcVNS) or auricular (taVNS) branches of the vagus nerve, may be a potential treatment for improving cognitive dysfunction. taVNS may improve cognitive performance in healthy adults, and fewer studies have been performed on the effects of tcVNS on cognition in healthy subjects. We conducted a randomized, single-blind, crossover-controlled trial to investigate the effects of tcVNS stimulation on cognitive function and neural activity in the brains of healthy adults. This study provides support for further tcVNS studies for the treatment of cognitive impairment. Twenty-one participants were randomly divided into two groups, A and B. Group A received tcVNS first and then sham-tcVNS, while group B received the intervention in the reverse order, receiving sham stimulation first and then true stimulation. All subjects were required to perform cognitive function tests before and after receiving intervention, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed concurrently during the intervention. We hypothesized that tcVNS would have an effect on the cognitive performance of the subjects and alter the neural activity of the brain. The present study showed that tcVNS had beneficial effects on cognitive performance, mainly improving memory and language skills and attention. tcVNS intervention produced significant spontaneous neural activity in the calcarine gyrus, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, and parahippocampal gyrus of the brain. Future tcVNS/fMRI trials will need to explore the effects of changes in stimulus parameters on the neural activity response of the brain.

Effects and safety of vagus nerve stimulation on upper limb function in patients with stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…However, VNS is a passive technique and it does not require active performance by the patients. Similarly, it has also been reported to help improve cognitive function 53,54 . Therefore, VNS can be used for patients with stroke who have severe impairment in motor and cognitive function.…”

Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation improves sensory performance in humans: a randomized controlled crossover pilot study

“…Previous tVNS studies in humans used a variety of stimulation parameters to assess tcVNS and taVNS effects 26 . tcVNS studies on cognitive performance 70 , 71 and physiological markers 72 – 74 typically delivered a sequence five sinusoidal pulses (pulse width: 200 μs/phase; 1 ms total) at 25 Hz to the cervical branch of the vagus nerve for up to 5 min. In the present study, we delivered either single biphasic pulses (pulse width: 200 μs) or a sequence of three biphasic pulses (pulse width: 600 μs) at 30 Hz.…”

Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation improves sensory performance in humans

“…Previous tVNS studies in humans used a variety of stimulation parameters to assess tcVNS and taVNS effects 26 . tcVNS studies on cognitive performance 70,71 and physiological markers [72][73][74] typically delivered a sequence five sinusoidal pulses (pulse width: 200 μs/phase; 1 ms total) at 25 Hz to the cervical branch of the vagus nerve for up to 5 minutes. In the present study, we delivered either single biphasic pulses (pulse width: 200 μs) or a sequence of three biphasic pulses (pulse width: 600 μs) at 30 Hz.…”