Wang Chunchen, Zeng Lingwei, Cao Xinsheng, Dai Jing, Liu Yang, Gao Zhijun, Qin Yilong, Yang Lin, Wang Hang, Wen Zhihong
Department of Aerospace Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Department of Medical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Front Neurosci. 2023 Mar 9;17:1123860. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1123860. eCollection 2023.
Transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a non-invasive nerve stimulation technique that exerts a positive "exogenous" online neuromodulatory effect on inhibitory control (IC). Additionally, IC training (ICT) is an effective approach for enhancing IC the "endogenous" activation of brain regions implicated in this process. The aim of the present study was to examine the synergistic effects of tVNS and ICT on IC enhancement. For this, we measured the changes in neural activity in frontal, fronto-central, and central regions in the time domain of the N2 component and the frequency domain of alpha power during the stop signal task. A total of 58 participants were randomly divided into four groups that received five sessions of either ICT or sham ICT with either online tVNS or sham tVNS. No differences in N2 amplitude were detected after any of the interventions. However, N2 latency shortened after tVNS + ICT in frontal, fronto-central, and central regions. N2 latency shortened after the intervention of sham tVNS + ICT in frontal region. Moreover, alpha power after tVNS + ICT intervention was larger than those of the other interventions in frontal, fronto-central, and central regions. The obtained electrophysiological data suggested that combining tVNS with ICT has synergistic ameliorative effects on IC, and provide evidence supporting the IC-enhancing potential of tVNS combined with ICT.
经皮迷走神经刺激（tVNS）是一种非侵入性神经刺激技术，对抑制控制（IC）具有积极的“外源性”在线神经调节作用。此外，IC训练（ICT）是增强IC的有效方法，IC是这一过程中涉及的脑区的“内源性”激活。本研究的目的是检验tVNS和ICT对增强IC的协同作用。为此，我们在停止信号任务期间测量了N2成分时域和α波功率频域中额叶、额中央和中央区域神经活动的变化。共有58名参与者被随机分为四组，分别接受五节ICT或假ICT训练，并同时接受在线tVNS或假tVNS。任何干预后均未检测到N2波幅的差异。然而，在额叶、额中央和中央区域，tVNS + ICT后N2潜伏期缩短。在额叶区域，假tVNS + ICT干预后N2潜伏期缩短。此外，tVNS + ICT干预后的α波功率在额叶、额中央和中央区域均大于其他干预。获得的电生理数据表明，tVNS与ICT联合应用对IC具有协同改善作用，并为tVNS联合ICT增强IC的潜力提供了证据支持。
