Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Göttingen, Germany.
Department of Neurology, University Medical Center, Göttingen, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 30;13(1):14197. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-40113-9.
In this randomized, sham-controlled study, we explored the effects of acute transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) on serum aldosterone in 20 younger (21-26 years) and 19 older (40-70 years) healthy participants. Blood samples were collected on two different days before and after a 20-min application of active tVNS at the inner tragus or sham stimulation of the earlobe. Irrespective of the stimulation mode, aldosterone levels decreased from pre- to post-stimulation in both the young (active: β = - 1.610 (- 2.855, - 0.365), p = 0.022; sham: β = - 0.857 (- 2.102, 0.388), p = 0.257) and the old cohort (active: β = - 1.969 (- 3.234, - 0.703), p = 0.005; sham: β = - 1.334 (- 2.600, - 0.069), p = 0.063). Although this decline was significant during active tVNS, the difference in estimated β-coefficients between active and sham stimulation was not statistically significant in either cohort. Nevertheless, aldosterone concentrations showed a significant interaction effect between sex and age (p = 0.001). Among all study participants, younger women (23.3 ± 1.6 years) had the highest mineralocorticoid levels (pre active: 172.1 ± 102.0 pg/ml, pre sham: 214.3 ± 82.3 pg/ml), whereas the lowest were observed in older females (59.4 ± 9.4 years) (pre active: 104.9 ± 85.8 pg/ml, pre sham: 81.1 ± 53.8 pg/ml). This post hoc analysis did not suggest that active auricular tVNS reduces serum aldosterone levels compared to sham stimulation in healthy subjects. However, serum aldosterone levels differed among subjects depending on their age and sex, irrespective of tVNS.
在这项随机、假对照研究中，我们探讨了急性经皮迷走神经刺激（tVNS）对 20 名年轻（21-26 岁）和 19 名年长（40-70 岁）健康参与者血清醛固酮的影响。在两次不同的日子里，在对耳内软骨进行活性 tVNS 应用 20 分钟或对耳垂进行假刺激之前和之后采集了血液样本。无论刺激模式如何，年轻组（活性：β=-1.610（-2.855，-0.365），p=0.022；假刺激：β=-0.857（-2.102，0.388），p=0.257）和老年组（活性：β=-1.969（-3.234，-0.703），p=0.005；假刺激：β=-1.334（-2.600，-0.069），p=0.063）的醛固酮水平均从刺激前降低至刺激后。尽管在活性 tVNS 期间这种下降具有统计学意义，但在两个队列中，活性刺激和假刺激之间估计的β系数差异均无统计学意义。然而，醛固酮浓度在性别和年龄之间显示出显著的交互作用效应（p=0.001）。在所有研究参与者中，年轻女性（23.3±1.6 岁）的皮质激素水平最高（前活性：172.1±102.0 pg/ml，前假刺激：214.3±82.3 pg/ml），而年龄较大的女性（59.4±9.4 岁）则最低（前活性：104.9±85.8 pg/ml，前假刺激：81.1±53.8 pg/ml）。这项事后分析表明，与假刺激相比，在健康受试者中，活性耳甲 tVNS 并未降低血清醛固酮水平。然而，无论 tVNS 如何，血清醛固酮水平在不同的研究对象中存在差异，这取决于他们的年龄和性别。
