The effect of taVNS on the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathway : a TMS study

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

fMRI studies show activation of cerebellum during transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation (taVNS); however, there is no evidence whether taVNS induced activation of the cerebellum translates to the cerebellar closed loops involved in motor functions. We assessed the propensity of taVNS at 25 Hz (taVNS25) and 100 Hz (taVNS100) to modulate cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathways using transcranial magnetic stimulation. In our double blind within-subjects study thirty-two participants completed one visit during which cerebellar brain inhibition (CBI) was assessed at baseline (no stimulation) and in a randomized order during taVNS100, taVNS25, and sham taVNS (xVNS). Generalized linear mixed models with gamma distribution were built to assess the effect of taVNS on CBI. The estimated marginal means of linear trends during each taVNS condition were computed and compared in a pairwise fashion with Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple comparisons. CBI significantly increased during taVNS100 compared to taVNS25 and xVNS (p = 0.0003 and p = 0.0465, respectively). The taVNS current intensity and CBI conditioning stimulus intensity had no significant effect on CBI. taVNS has a frequency dependent propensity to modulate the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathway. The cerebellum participates in closed-loop circuits involved in motor, cognitive, and affective operations and may serve as an entry for modulating effects of taVNS.

• Language: English
• Keywords: vagal nerve stimulation, transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, vagus nerve
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: MF - Faculty of Medicine
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 1013–1019
• Numbering: Vol. 23, iss. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-156320
• UDC: 61
• ISSN on article: 1473-4230
• DOI: 10.1007/s12311-023-01595-5
• COBISS.SI-ID: 179582979
• Publication date in RUL: 20.05.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: The cerebellum
• Shortened title: Cerebellum
• Publisher: Springer Nature, Society for Research on the Cerebellum and Ataxias
• ISSN: 1473-4230
• COBISS.SI-ID: 515404057

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Projects

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

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency