The effects of transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation on cortical GABAergic and cholinergic circuits : a transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Van Midden, Vesna M. (author), Demšar, Jure (author), Pirtošek, Zvezdan (author), Kojović, Maja (author)

Neurophysiological evidence that transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation (taVNS) affects neuronal signalling at the cortical level is sparse. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation to assess the effect of taVNS on the excitability of intracortical GABAergic and cholinergic circuits. In this within-subject, double-blind study on 30 healthy participants, we used TMS paradigms to assess the effect of a single session of taVNS at 100 Hz and sham earlobe VNS (sVNS) on short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) curve and short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI). Control experiment was performed on additional 15 participants using the same experimental settings, but delivering no stimulation (xVNS). Bayesian statistics were used to assess the differences, producing % values that reflect the certainty that the values of interest were decreased during or after stimulation compared with baseline. taVNS increased SICI (96.3%), whereas sVNS decreased SICI (1.2%). SAI was not affected by taVNS, although it was decreased during sVNS (1.34% and 9.1%, for interstimulus intervals 20 and 24 ms, respectively). The changes in TMS parameters detected during sVNS were present in the same direction in the control experiment with no stimulation. Our study provides evidence that taVNS increases the activity of cortical GABAAergic system, leaving cortical cholinergic circuits unaffected. Changes in intracortical cortical excitability during sVNS, which were also observed in the control experiment with no stimulation were likely the effect of expectation related to participation in an interventional study.

• Language: English
• Keywords: neurology, neuroscience, transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation, short-interval intracortical inhibition, short-latency afferent inhibition, active motor threshold, resting motor threshold, short latency intracortical inhibition, vagal nerve stimulation
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: MF - Faculty of Medicine; FRI - Faculty of Computer and Information Science ; FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 2160-2173
• Numbering: Vol. 57, no. 12
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-147467
• UDC: 616.8:004:
• ISSN on article: 1460-9568
• DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16004
• COBISS.SI-ID: 152114947
• Publication date in RUL: 05.07.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: European journal of neuroscience
• Shortened title: EJN, Eur. j. neurosci.
• Publisher: Wiley, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies
• ISSN: 1460-9568
• COBISS.SI-ID: 517706521

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: nevrologija, nevroznanost, transkutana aurikularna stimulacija vagalnega živca, kratkotrajna intrakortikalna inhibicija, kratkotrajna aferentna inhibicija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Funding programme: University Medical Centre Ljubljana