In recent decades, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy has become widely used for clinical applications including epilepsy, depression, and enhancing the effects of rehabilitation. However, several questions remain regarding optimization of this therapy to maximize clinical outcomes. Although stimulation parameters such as pulse width, amplitude, and frequency are well studied, the timing of stimulation delivery both acutely (with respect to disease events) and chronically (over the timeline of a disease's progression) has generally received less attention. Leveraging such information would provide a framework for the implementation of next generation closed-loop VNS therapies. In this mini-review, we summarize a number of VNS therapies and discuss (1) general timing considerations for these applications and (2) open questions that could lead to further therapy optimization.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s42234-023-00110-9 | DOI Listing |
Medicina (Kaunas)
January 2025
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", 030147 Bucharest, Romania.
: The Index of Response to Stimulation (IRES) is a new index that we introduce in this study to grade the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation in the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy. We assessed 76 patients at 6, 12, and 18 months after VNS evaluating improvement with the IRES in four key dimensions: seizure duration decrease, seizure intensity decrease, improvement in quality of life, and seizure frequency decrease. This scale goes from 0, meaning no improvement, to 8, meaning maximal improvement, making the scale a really good measure of clinical utility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
January 2025
The Fleischer Institute for Diabetes and Metabolism, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA.
The visceral organ-brain axis, mediated by vagal sensory neurons, is essential for maintaining various physiological functions. Here, we investigate the impact of liver-projecting vagal sensory neurons on energy balance, hepatic steatosis, and anxiety-like behavior in mice under obesogenic conditions. A small subset of vagal sensory neurons innervate the liver and project centrally to the nucleus of the tractus solitarius, area postrema, and dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, and peripherally to the periportal areas in the liver.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOtolaryngol Clin North Am
January 2025
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Illinois Health and Hospital System, 1009 S. Wood Street, Suite 6C, Chicago, IL 60616, USA.
Dysphonia is a common symptom of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) and requires multimodal, patient-centered care to address. Challenges in diagnosing LPRD can also complicate treatment of nonspecific dysphonia symptoms. Careful history taking with sensitivity to cultural lifestyle components in each patient is critical to management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProg Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry
January 2025
Chiba University Center for Forensic Mental Health, Chiba 260-8670, Japan. Electronic address:
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a widely recognized entactogen frequently used recreationally. It is known for its interaction with the serotonin and oxytocin systems, which underlie its entactogenic effects in humans. Recently, we demonstrated that the gut-brain axis, mediated by the subdiaphragmatic vagus nerve, contributes to MDMA-induced resilience enhancement in rodents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurosurg
January 2025
Departments of1Neurosurgery.
Objective: Inflammation contributes to morbidity following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The authors of this study evaluate how applying noninvasive transauricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) can target this deleterious inflammatory response following SAH and reduce the rate of radiographic vasospasm.
Methods: In this prospective, triple-blinded, randomized controlled trial, 27 patients were randomized to taVNS or sham stimulation.
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