Zhao Bin, Bi Yanzhi, Chen Yong, Zhang Jinling, Zhang Shuai, Zhang Dongshu, Rong Peijing
Department of Acupuncture, College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Front Neurol. 2023 Jul 6;14:1164869. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1164869. eCollection 2023.
The pathogenesis of insomnia is related to the dysfunction of the thalamus. Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has proved to be effective in treating insomnia. However, whether taVNS alleviates insomnia through modulating thalamus-related functional connectivity remains unclear. To elucidate the instant modulating effects of taVNS on the resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the thalamus, 20 patients with insomnia disorder were recruited to receive taVNS treatment and their resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected immediately before and after stimulation. The fMRI data were compared with 20 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects who received no stimulation and had RSFC fMRI data collected once. RSFC analyses of the thalamus were performed in both groups. In addition to assessing the group differences between ID patients and healthy controls regarding the RSFC of the thalamus, we examined the taVNS-induced changes of RSFC of the thalamus in ID patients. Before taVNS treatment, the ID patients showed increased RSFC of the thalamus with the right insula and inferior frontal gyrus than healthy controls. After taVNS treatment, the RSFC between the thalamus and the right angular gyrus, left anterior cingulate gyrus, and precuneus were significantly decreased in patients. This study provides insights into the instant brain effects involving the thalamus-related functional connectivity of taVNS performed on insomnia disorder patients.
失眠的发病机制与丘脑功能障碍有关。经皮耳迷走神经刺激（taVNS）已被证明对治疗失眠有效。然而，taVNS是否通过调节丘脑相关功能连接来缓解失眠仍不清楚。为了阐明taVNS对丘脑静息态功能连接（RSFC）的即时调节作用，招募了20名失眠症患者接受taVNS治疗，并在刺激前后立即收集他们的静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）数据。将fMRI数据与20名年龄和性别匹配的未接受刺激且仅收集过一次RSFC fMRI数据的健康受试者进行比较。对两组进行丘脑的RSFC分析。除了评估失眠症患者和健康对照在丘脑RSFC方面的组间差异外，我们还检查了taVNS诱导的失眠症患者丘脑RSFC的变化。在taVNS治疗前，失眠症患者与健康对照相比，丘脑与右侧脑岛和额下回的RSFC增加。taVNS治疗后，患者丘脑与右侧角回、左侧前扣带回和楔前叶之间的RSFC显著降低。本研究为对失眠症患者进行的taVNS所涉及的丘脑相关功能连接的即时脑效应提供了见解。
