Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Can J Physiol Pharmacol 2019 Apr 23. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

Al-Balqa' Applied University, 59303, Basic Medical Sciences , P. O. Box 206 , Al-Salt, Jordan , 19117.

The coexistence of different visceral pathologies on patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, and other pathologies, necessitates the study of theses pathologies under complicated conditions. In the present study, cystometry recordings were used to investigate the effect of distal esophageal chemical irritation (DEI) on the urinary bladder interaction with distal colon distention (DCD), distal esophageal distention (DED), and electrical stimulation of abdominal branches of vagus nerve (abd-vagus). DEI significantly decreased the intercontraction time (ICT) via decreasing the voiding time (VT). Read More

Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2019 Apr 23. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

Montreal Diabetes Research Center, CRCHUM, and Department of Medicine, University of Montreal, QC, Canada, Canada.

The pancreatic beta-cell responds to changes in the nutrient environment to maintain glucose homeostasis by adapting its function and mass. Nutrients can act directly on the beta-cell and also indirectly through the brain via autonomic nerves innervating islets. Despite the importance of the brain-islet axis in insulin secretion, relatively little is known regarding its involvement in beta-cell proliferation. Read More

Stress 2019 Apr 23:1-12. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

a Texas Biomedical Device Center , The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson , TX , USA.

We have shown that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) enhances extinction of conditioned fear and reduces anxiety in rat models of PTSD using moderate stress. However, it is still unclear if VNS can be effective in enhancing extinction of severe fear after prolonged and repeated trauma. Severe fear was induced in adult male rats by combining single prolonged stress (SPS) and protracted aversive conditioning (PAC). Read More

J Neurosurg 2019 Apr 19:1-7. Epub 2019 Apr 19.

OBJECTIVEDespite rapid development and expansion of neuromodulation technologies, knowledge about device and/or therapy durability remains limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term rate of hardware and therapeutic failure of implanted devices for several neuromodulation therapies.METHODSThe authors performed a retrospective analysis of patients' device and therapy survival data (Kaplan-Meier survival analysis) for deep brain stimulation (DBS), vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), and spinal cord stimulation (SCS) at a single institution (years 1994-2015). Read More

J Affect Disord 2019 Apr 7;252:404-412. Epub 2019 Apr 7.

Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich-Vetsuisse, Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Background: There is growing evidence for a role of abnormal gut-brain signaling in disorders involving altered mood and affect, including depression. Studies using vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) suggest that the disruption of vagal afferent signaling may contribute to these abnormalities. To test this hypothesis, we used a rat model of subdiaphragmatic vagal deafferentation (SDA), the most complete and selective vagal deafferentation method existing to date, to study the consequences of complete disconnection of abdominal vagal afferents on affective behaviors. Read More

J Neuroinflammation 2019 Apr 17;16(1):90. Epub 2019 Apr 17.

Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide. After the first episode, patients with remitted MDD have a 60% chance of experiencing a second episode. Consideration of therapy continuation should be viewed in terms of the balance between the adverse effects of medication and the need to prevent a possible relapse. Read More

J Cell Biochem 2019 Apr 17. Epub 2019 Apr 17.

Endocrine, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Research, Unit for Multidisciplinary Research in Biomedicine (UMIB), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) influences energy balance by exerting effects on food intake and glucose metabolism, through mechanisms that are partially dependent on the vagal pathway. The aim of this study was to characterize the effects of chronic GLP-1 stimulation on energy homeostasis and glucose metabolism in the absence of vagal innervation Truncal vagotomized (VGX) and sham operated rats (SHAM) received an intraperitoneal GLP-1 infusion (3.5 pmol/kg/min) trough mini-osmotic pumps. Read More

IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2019 Apr 12. Epub 2019 Apr 12.

Introduction: Current truncating circuit designs used in some controllable pulse width transcranial magnetic stimulation systems can be adapted for use with the peripheral nervous system. Such a scaled-down stimulator produces neuromuscular activation using less stimulus energy than described in previous reports of sciatic nerve stimulation.

Methods: To evaluate the energy reductions possible with current truncation, we performed six in vivoexperiments in rats where the magnetic stimulating coil abutted the sciatic nerve. Read More

Seizure 2019 Apr 3;69:77-79. Epub 2019 Apr 3.

Department of Neurosurgery, Charité University Hospital, Berlin, Germany.

Purpose: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is well established in the treatment of epilepsy and disorders of depression. The prevalence of depression is high in patients with epilepsy, but still it remains unclear how patients with a comorbidity of epilepsy and symptoms of depression respond to VNS.

Methods: We investigated 59 patients with different subtypes of disorders of depression as a comorbidity of epilepsy, who underwent VNS-surgery. Read More

Neurobiol Learn Mem 2019 Apr 12. Epub 2019 Apr 12.

Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands.

Fear overgeneralization is thought to be one of the cardinal processes underlying anxiety disorders, and a determinant of the onset, maintenance and recurrence of these disorders. Animal studies have shown that stimulating the vagus nerve (VNS) affects neuronal pathways implicated in pattern separation and completion, suggesting it may reduce the generalization of a fear memory to novel situations. In a one-day study, 58 healthy students were subjected to a fear conditioning, fear generalization, and fear extinction paradigm. Read More

Front Neurosci 2019 29;13:280. Epub 2019 Mar 29.

Texas Biomedical Device Center, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States.

Stroke is a leading cause of disability worldwide, and in approximately 60% of individuals, upper limb deficits persist 6 months after stroke. These deficits adversely affect the functional use of the upper limb and restrict participation in day to day activities. An important goal of stroke rehabilitation is to improve the quality of life by enhancing functional independence and participation in activities. Read More

J Clin Med 2019 Apr 11;8(4). Epub 2019 Apr 11.

Department of Internal Medicine, Fondazione IRCSS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, 20122 Milan, Italy.

Previous studies showed that transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) modulates the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in resting condition. However, the autonomic regulation in response to an orthostatic challenge during tVNS in healthy subjects remains unknown. We tested the hypothesis that tVNS reduces heart rate (HR) and alters the responsivity of ANS to orthostatic stress in healthy subjects. Read More

J Neurosurg Pediatr 2019 Apr 5;23(4):411-421. Epub 2019 Apr 5.

The field of epilepsy surgery has seen tremendous growth in recent years. Innovative new devices have driven much of this growth, but some has been driven by revisions of existing products. Devices have also helped to rejuvenate existing procedures, as in the case of robotic assistance for electrode placement for stereo-electroencephalography, and these devices have brought significant attention along with their introduction. Read More

Curr Neuropharmacol 2019 04 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Neurosciences, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs (NESMOS) Department, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University; "Sant'Andrea" University Hospital, Rome. Italy.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is highly prevalent, severe, chronic, and disabling. There is need for alternative strategies for treatment-resistant OCD.

Objective: This review aims to assess the effect of brain stimulation techniques in OCD. Read More

Int J Neural Syst 2019 Feb 14:1950008. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

1 Laboratory for Clinical and Experimental Neurophysiology, Neurobiology and Neuropsychology, Ghent University, Corneel Heymanslaan 10 Ghent, Flanders, Belgium.

Aim: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) modulates hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) electrophysiology and induces hypothermia in freely moving rats. This study evaluated whether hippocampal (CA1) electrophysiology is similarly modulated and to what extent this is associated with VNS-induced hypothermia.

Methods: Six freely moving rats received a first 4 h session of rapid cycling VNS (7 s on/18 s off), while CA1 evoked potentials, EEG and core temperature were recorded. Read More

Methods Protoc 2019 Mar 15;2(1). Epub 2019 Feb 15.

School of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA; (M.U.R.); (M.P.K.), (S.A.H.).

Peripheral nerve stimulation has emerged as a platform therapy to treat a wide range of disorders. Continued development and translation of these strategies requires that researchers have access to reliable, customizable electrodes for nerve stimulation. Here, we detail procedures to build three different configurations of cuff electrodes with varying numbers and orientations of contacts for nerve stimulation in rats. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2019 Feb 26. Epub 2019 Feb 26.

Epilepsy Center Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Dept. of Neurology, University of Frankfurt, Germany. Electronic address:

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a newly developed method which intends to overcome the disadvantage of surgical implantation of the stimulation device. The tVNS device is designed to stimulate the auricular branch of the vagus nerve via a bipolar electrode attached to the skin of the left ear conch. A randomized, double-blind controlled trial assessed efficacy and safety over 20 weeks of tVNS (n=39) vs. Read More

Front Neurosci 2019 13;13:186. Epub 2019 Mar 13.

Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Geriatric Psychiatry, Neurology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018. Read More

J Gastric Cancer 2019 Mar 7;19(1):49-61. Epub 2019 Feb 7.

Department of Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.

Purpose: The perigastric vagus nerve may play an important role in preserving function after gastrectomy, and intraoperative neurophysiologic tests might represent a feasible method of evaluating the vagus nerve. The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of neurophysiologic evaluations of the function and viability of perigastric vagus nerve branches during gastrectomy.

Materials And Methods: Thirteen patients (1 open total gastrectomy, 1 laparoscopic total gastrectomy, and 11 laparoscopic distal gastrectomy) were prospectively enrolled. Read More

Oxid Med Cell Longev 2019 28;2019:9208949. Epub 2019 Feb 28.

Department of Cardiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China.

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been shown to attenuate ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in multiple organs. The present study aimed at investigating whether VNS could exert protective effects against I/R injury in the skeletal muscle. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: the control, I/R, and I/R+VNS groups. Read More

Stroke 2019 May;50(5):1216-1223

From the Neurovascular Research Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown (T.S., T.T., T.Q., C.A.).

Background and Purpose- Inflammation is a critical determinant of aneurysmal wall destabilization, growth, and rupture risk. Targeting inflammation may suppress aneurysm rupture. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been shown to suppress inflammation both systemically and in the central nervous system. Read More

Clin Auton Res 2019 Apr 2. Epub 2019 Apr 2.

Department of Physiology, Wroclaw Medical University, Chalubińskiego 10, 50-368, Wrocław, Poland.

Purpose: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been considered for the treatment of sympathetically mediated disorders. However, the optimal mode of stimulation is unknown. This study aimed to compare the cardiovascular effects of respiratory-gated taVNS in healthy subjects. Read More

Front Neurosci 2019 18;13:223. Epub 2019 Mar 18.

Sorbonne Université, Faculté de Médecine Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.

Severe brain injury is a common cause of coma. In some cases, despite vigilance improvement, disorders of consciousness (DoC) persist. Several states of impaired consciousness have been defined, according to whether the patient exhibits only reflexive behaviors as in the vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (VS/UWS) or purposeful behaviors distinct from reflexes as in the minimally conscious state (MCS). Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2019 Feb 30;91:25-29. Epub 2018 Jun 30.

Epilepsy Center, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address:

For patients with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy, neurostimulation offers nonpharmacological strategies to improve seizure control. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), deep brain stimulation of the anterior thalamic nuclei, and responsive neurostimulation (RNS) are approved therapies which have shown efficacy in randomized short-term trials. Controlled data from prospective studies are needed to confirm reports on stable or even increasing evidence from studies with longer follow-up and to confirm that neurostimulation may offer advantages also regarding cognitive tolerability and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)-risk. Read More

PLoS One 2019 28;14(3):e0214317. Epub 2019 Mar 28.

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America.

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been on the forefront of inflammatory disorder research and has yielded many promising results. Questions remain, however, about the biological mechanisms of such treatments and the inconsistencies in the methods used in research efforts. Here, we aimed to clarify the inflammatory response to intraperitoneal (IP) injections of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in rats, while analyzing corresponding effects of electrical stimulation to subdiaphragmatic branches (anterior gastric, accessory celiac, and hepatic) of the left vagus nerve. Read More

NASN Sch Nurse 2019 Mar 28:1942602X19836439. Epub 2019 Mar 28.

SHNIC Program Coordinator, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD.

The Specialized Health Needs Interagency Collaboration (SHNIC) program at the Kennedy Krieger Institute is a community-based program that provides on-site training and technical assistance to safely manage the integration of children with special health needs into educational and community settings. SHNIC frequently receives seizure education requests throughout the school year, specifically regarding vagus nerve stimulation. Vagus nerve stimulation involves an implanted medical device used to deliver electrical pulses to the vagus nerve for additional seizure management. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2019 Mar 11. Epub 2019 Mar 11.

Department of Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

The Fourteenth Eilat Conference on New Antiepileptic Drugs and Devices (EILAT XIV) took place in Madrid, Spain from May 13th to 16th 2018. Again, presentations on new medical devices and neuromodulation and discussions on device-related regulatory aspects were included in the programme. The virtual special issue on "neuromodulation" summarises the presentations focusing firstly, on the pre-clinical developments and the difficulties of clinical trial designs for neuromodulatory therapies, including vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and Brain-Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS), and the use of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) as a potential screening tool for determining the efficacy of neuromodulatory treatments in individual patients; secondly, on wearable devices for seizure monitoring through indices of peripheral sympathetic nervous activity, the use of such devices in combination with biofeedback for the treatment of epilepsy, and its potential for improving epilepsy specialist services, particularly in remote areas. Read More

Crit Care Med 2019 Mar 25. Epub 2019 Mar 25.

Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Pilsen, Czech Republic.

Objectives: To investigate the potential benefits of vagus nerve stimulation in a clinically-relevant large animal model of progressive sepsis.

Design: Prospective, controlled, randomized trial.

Setting: University animal research laboratory. Read More

Front Neurosci 2019 8;13:227. Epub 2019 Mar 8.

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is widely used for clinical applications, but its mechanism of action is poorly understood. One candidate pathway that might mediate the effects of tVNS is an increase in GABAergic neurotransmission. In this study, we investigated the effect of tVNS on visual bistable perception, which is highly coupled to GABA. Read More

Neuroscience 2019 Mar 21;406:290-299. Epub 2019 Mar 21.

Texas Biomedical Device Center, Richardson, TX 75080, USA; The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral Brain Sciences, 800 West Campbell Road, GR 41, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA.

Repeatedly pairing a brief train of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) with an auditory stimulus drives reorganization of primary auditory cortex (A1), and the magnitude of this VNS-dependent plasticity is dependent on the stimulation parameters, including intensity and pulse rate. However, there is currently little data to guide the selection of VNS train durations, an easily adjusted parameter that could influence the effect of VNS-based therapies. Here, we tested the effect of varying the duration of the VNS train on the extent of VNS-dependent cortical plasticity. Read More

Neurosci Lett 2019 Mar 21;703:104-110. Epub 2019 Mar 21.

Department of Anesthesiology, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China. Electronic address:

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) has been increasingly recognized as a significant complication after surgery, especially in senior patients. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) reportedly provides beneficial effects against various brain disorders, supporting a hypothesis of its protective role in POCD. However, direct stimulation of the vagus nerve is invasive, as it requires a surgical incision in the neck. Read More

Neurosurg Clin N Am 2019 Apr;30(2):219-230

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1500 21st Avenue South, 4340 Village at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN 37232-8618, USA; Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1500 21st Avenue South, 4340 Village at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN 37232-8618, USA; Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1500 21st Avenue South, 4340 Village at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN 37232-8618, USA; Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1500 21st Avenue South, 4340 Village at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN 37232-8618, USA.

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) was the first neuromodulation device approved for treatment of epilepsy. In more than 20 years of study, VNS has consistently demonstrated efficacy in treating epilepsy. After 2 years, approximately 50% of patients experience at least 50% reduced seizure frequency. Read More

Allergy 2019 Mar 21. Epub 2019 Mar 21.

Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Ageing (CHROMETA), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Background: The vagus nerve has emerged as an important modulator of the intestinal immune system. Its anti-inflammatory properties have been previously shown in innate and Th1/Th17 predominant inflammatory models. To what extent the vagus nerve is of importance in Th2 inflammatory responses like food allergy is still unclear. Read More

Curr Opin Neurol 2019 Mar 19. Epub 2019 Mar 19.

Headache Research Unit, University Department of Neurology CHR, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liege, Liege, Belgium.

Purpose Of Review: Cluster headache stands among the worst debilitating pain conditions. Available treatments for cluster headache have often disabling side effects, are not tolerated, or are ineffective. The management of drug-refractory chronic forms is challenging. Read More

Mov Disord 2019 Mar 19. Epub 2019 Mar 19.

Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2019 Mar 15. Epub 2019 Mar 15.

Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.

Background: Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy is a critical postoperative complication in esophageal cancer surgery. However, intraoperative prediction of its occurrence and severity is difficult. In this prospective study, we evaluated the usefulness of intraoperative nerve monitoring (IONM) in predicting RLN palsy and its severity. Read More

Front Psychiatry 2019 27;10:86. Epub 2019 Feb 27.

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.

Catatonia is a syndrome comprising psychomotor, behavioral, and autonomous symptoms which may occur in the context of severe schizophrenic, affective, and other mental disorders or medical conditions. Treatment options include high dose benzodiazepines (lorazepam) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) with some evidence for the effectiveness of glutamate antagonists. However, due to a lack of randomized controlled studies in this severely ill population, evidence base is weak. Read More

Brain Stimul 2019 Feb 21. Epub 2019 Feb 21.

Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address:

Mov Disord 2019 Mar 14. Epub 2019 Mar 14.

Department of Neurology and Ram Gopal Chamaria Medical Research Centre (RGC), Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata, India.

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2019 Mar 8. Epub 2019 Mar 8.

Objective: The goal of this work is to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of responsive (or closed-loop) Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy in sleep quality in patients with medically refractory epilepsy.

Methods: Using quantitative features obtained from electroencephalography (EEG), we first developed a new automatic sleep-staging framework that consists of a multi-class support vector machine (SVM) classification based on a decision tree approach. To train and evaluate the performance of the framework, we used polysomnographic data of 23 healthy subjects from the PhysioBank database where the sleep stages have been visually annotated. Read More

Nat Commun 2019 03 12;10(1):951. Epub 2019 Mar 12.

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455, MN, USA.

Targeted noninvasive control of the nervous system and end-organs may enable safer and more effective treatment of multiple diseases compared to invasive devices or systemic medications. One target is the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway that consists of the vagus nerve to spleen circuit, which has been stimulated with implantable devices to improve autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Here we report that daily noninvasive ultrasound (US) stimulation targeting the spleen significantly reduces disease severity in a mouse model of inflammatory arthritis. Read More

Nat Commun 2019 03 12;10(1):952. Epub 2019 Mar 12.

GE Global Research Center, 1 Research Circle, Niskayuna, NY, 12309, USA.

Tools for noninvasively modulating neural signaling in peripheral organs will advance the study of nerves and their effect on homeostasis and disease. Herein, we demonstrate a noninvasive method to modulate specific signaling pathways within organs using ultrasound (U/S). U/S is first applied to spleen to modulate the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP), and US stimulation is shown to reduce cytokine response to endotoxin to the same levels as implant-based vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). Read More

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2019 13;15:457-468. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore.

Objective: To compare the durations of response achieved with adjunctive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS + TAU) vs treatment as usual (TAU) alone in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) over a 5-year period in the TRD registry.

Materials And Methods: Data from 271 participants on TAU and 328 participants on VNS + TAU were analyzed. Response was defined as ≥50% decrease in baseline Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score at postbaseline visit and was considered retained until the decrease was <40%. Read More

Laryngorhinootologie 2019 Mar 7;98(3):192-217. Epub 2019 Mar 7.

Epidemiological studies have shown a clear correlation between migraine and vascular disease in more and more patients. Pathophysiological studies show the relevance of the hypothalamus in the generation of migraine attacks. Glutamate seems to play an important role here. Read More

J Neurosci Methods 2019 May 1;320:1-8. Epub 2019 Mar 1.

INRIA, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.

Background: In the context of morbid obesity, vagus nerve stimulation could be used to control gastric function targeting the small afferent B-fibers and C-fibers. Compared to large A-fibers, activation thresholds of these small efferent fibers are 10 to 100 times greater, inducing technical constraints and possible nerve damages. Although rectangular waveform is commonly used in nerve stimulation, recent modeling and experimental studies suggest that non-rectangular waveforms could reduced the charge injected by the stimulator. Read More

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2019 Mar 1. Epub 2019 Mar 1.

Headache and Craniofacial Pain Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.

Non-invasive neuromodulation therapies for migraine and cluster headache are a practical and safe alternative to pharmacologics. Comparisons of these therapies are difficult because of the heterogeneity in study designs. In this systematic review of clinical trials, the scientific rigour and clinical relevance of the available data were assessed to inform clinical decisions about non-invasive neuromodulation. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2019 Feb 20. Epub 2019 Feb 20.

Laboratory for Clinical and Experimental Neurophysiology, Neurobiology and Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.

Neuromodulation therapies represent an important treatment arm for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) who are not candidates for resective surgery. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) - the neurostimulation modality in focus in this review - was the first available neuromodulatory therapy for DRE and was followed by anterior thalamic deep brain stimulation (ANT-DBS) and responsive neurostimulation (RNS). Although no comparative trials of these treatments have been performed, published data and clinical experience suggest comparable effectiveness. Read More

Case Rep Neurol Med 2019 21;2019:7852017. Epub 2019 Jan 21.

Department of Neurocritical Care, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA, USA.

The treatment protocol of status epilepticus has many associated toxicities so there is interest in alternate nonmedicinal therapies for managing New Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus (NORSE) patients. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an FDA-approved therapy for refractory epilepsy that has been shown to decrease the frequency and severity of seizures. We present the case of a patient with new-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) whose seizures were successfully treated with vagus nerve stimulation. Read More

J Neurosci 2019 Feb 25. Epub 2019 Feb 25.

Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) has been shown to enhance learning and memory, yet the mechanisms behind these enhancements are unknown. Here we present evidence that epigenetic modulation underlies VNS-induced improvements in cognition. We show that VNS enhances novelty preference, alters the hippocampal, cortical, and blood epigenetic transcriptomes, and epigenetically modulates neuronal plasticity and stress-response signaling genes in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Read More

Brain Stimul 2019 Feb 10. Epub 2019 Feb 10.

Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Logan University, Chesterfield, MO, USA.

Background: Brainstem-focused mechanisms supporting transcutaneous auricular VNS (taVNS) effects are not well understood, particularly in humans. We employed ultrahigh field (7T) fMRI and evaluated the influence of respiratory phase for optimal targeting, applying our respiratory-gated auricular vagal afferent nerve stimulation (RAVANS) technique.

Hypothesis: We proposed that targeting of nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) and cardiovagal modulation in response to taVNS stimuli would be enhanced when stimulation is delivered during a more receptive state, i. Read More