Mao Yixiang, Chen Conan, Falahpour Maryam, MacNiven Kelly H, Heit Gary, Sharma Vivek, Alataris Konstantinos, Liu Thomas T
Center for Functional MRI, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States.
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Apr 14;16:862443. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.862443. eCollection 2022.
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), a non-invasive alternative to vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) with implantable devices, has shown promise in treating disorders such as depression, migraine, and insomnia. Studies of these disorders with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (rsfMRI) have found sustained changes in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in patients treated with low frequency (1-20 Hz) taVNS. A recent study has reported reductions in pain scores in patients with rheumatoid arthritis after a 12-week treatment of high-frequency (20 kHz) sub-threshold taVNS. However, no studies to date have examined the effects of high-frequency sub-threshold taVNS on rsFC. The objective of this study was to determine whether high-frequency sub-threshold taVNS induces changes in rsFC using seed regions from the cingulate cortex and insula, brain regions that play a key role in interoception and processing of pain. With a single-blind placebo-controlled repeated measures experimental design, rsfMRI scans were acquired before and after 15 min of either sub-threshold taVNS treatment or a sham control. Significant taVNS-related changes in functional connections to the cingulate cortex were detected between the anterior cingulate cortex and right superior temporal gyrus and between the midcingulate cortex and right inferior parietal lobule. In addition, significant changes in functional connections to the insula were detected between the posterior insula and right precuneus and between the anterior insula and right cuneus gyrus. These results suggest that high-frequency sub-threshold taVNS can lead to sustained effects on the rsFC of brain regions involved in interoception and processing of pain in a cohort of healthy subjects. This study lays the foundation for future rsfMRI studies of high-frequency sub-threshold taVNS in clinical populations.
经皮耳迷走神经刺激（taVNS）是一种用于替代植入式设备进行迷走神经刺激（VNS）的非侵入性方法，已显示出在治疗抑郁症、偏头痛和失眠等疾病方面的潜力。利用静息态功能磁共振成像（MRI）（rsfMRI）对这些疾病进行的研究发现，接受低频（1-20Hz）taVNS治疗的患者静息态功能连接（rsFC）持续发生变化。最近一项研究报告称，高频（20kHz）阈下taVNS治疗12周后，类风湿性关节炎患者的疼痛评分有所降低。然而，迄今为止尚无研究考察高频阈下taVNS对rsFC的影响。本研究的目的是使用扣带回皮质和脑岛的种子区域来确定高频阈下taVNS是否会引起rsFC的变化，扣带回皮质和脑岛在体内感觉和疼痛处理中起关键作用。采用单盲安慰剂对照重复测量实验设计，在阈下taVNS治疗或假对照15分钟前后采集rsfMRI扫描数据。在前扣带回皮质与右侧颞上回之间以及中央扣带回皮质与右侧顶下小叶之间检测到与taVNS相关的扣带回皮质功能连接的显著变化。此外，在后脑岛与右侧楔前叶之间以及前脑岛与右侧楔回之间检测到与脑岛功能连接的显著变化。这些结果表明，高频阈下taVNS可对一组健康受试者中参与体内感觉和疼痛处理的脑区的rsFC产生持续影响。本研究为未来在临床人群中对高频阈下taVNS进行rsfMRI研究奠定了基础。
