Far field potentials from brain stem after transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation: optimization of stimulation and recording parameters.

The method of vagus somatosensory evoked potentials (VSEP) was introduced to easily measure the activity of vagus brain stem nuclei. In Alzheimer's disease, this measure was characterized by longer latencies as compared to controls while amplitudes did not show statistical significant differences at frontal and central recording sites. Therefore, the influence of stimulation and recording parameters on amplitudes of VSEP were systematically examined.

Auricular vagus somatosensory evoked potentials in vascular dementia.

A new method for the assessment of vagus nerve function has recently been introduced into clinical practice. In the present study we could show that, contrary to our results in Alzheimer's disease (AD), in patients with vascular dementia (VaD) vagus sensory evoked potentials (VSEP) did not show statistically significant differences as compared to healthy controls. Thus, we hypothesize that the new method of VSEP could possibly contribute to a differential diagnosis between early cases of AD and VaD.

Gene expression as peripheral biomarkers for sporadic Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. At present, diagnosis of AD is rather late in the disease. Therefore, we attempted to find peripheral biomarkers for the early diagnosis of AD.

Age effect on far field potentials from the brain stem after transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation.

Recently, a new electrophysiological method for the assessment of vagus nerve function in the brainstem has been proposed in healthy participants. Before this procedure may be applied to patients with neurodegenerative diseases, its feasibility in elderly healthy participants and a possible age effect on the measurement have to be investigated. The vagus sensory evoked potentials (VSEP) after transcutaneous electric stimulation of the sensory auricular branch of the vagus nerve have been assessed in healthy younger and elderly participants.

Sensory gating deficit in a subtype of chronic schizophrenic patients.

The dual click P50 paradigm has been established as a neurophysiological method to detect gating mechanisms. Studies of schizophrenic patients have shown that an insufficient reduction of the P50 amplitude after the second relative to the first stimulus indicates a deficient sensory gating mechanism. The aim of this study was to compare the P50 responses in the dual click paradigm of healthy volunteers to those of patients with different psychotic disorders, especially with regard to psychopathology and nosology according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV and to the classification system of Leonhard.