Zhang Yujiao, Lin Pan, Wang Ruimin, Zhou Jiang, Xu Xiaoquan, Jiang Wenhao, Pu Xiongying, Ge Sheng
IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2024 Oct;28(10):5962-5970. doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2024.3423019. Epub 2024 Oct 3.
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is an emerging neuromodulation technology that has been reported to be beneficial in the treatment of diseases by several studies, but its exact mechanism of action is still unclear. It has been demonstrated that taVNS can influence interoceptive signals. Notably, the processing of interoceptive signals is directly related to many diseases, such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia. The insula and the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) communicate during the bottom-up transmission of taVNS-induced signals, and both play a role in interoceptive signal processing. By focusing on the insula and MPFC, our research pioneers detail the potential interactions between interoceptive signal processing and the neuromodulation effects of taVNS, providing novel insights into the neurobiological mechanisms of taVNS. Two functional connectivity (FC) analyses (region of interest-based and seed-based) were used in this study. We observed that negative connectivity between the insula and the MPFC was significantly weakened following taVNS, while there were no statistical changes in the sham group. Our findings elucidate potential mechanisms linking vagal activity with intrinsic FC among specific brain regions and networks. Specifically, our results indicate that taVNS may enhance the ability to flexibly balance interoceptive awareness and cognitive experiences by modulating the FC between the insula and MPFC. The modulation effects may impact body-brain interactions, suggesting the mechanism of taVNS in therapeutic applications.
经皮耳迷走神经刺激(taVNS)是一种新兴的神经调节技术,已有多项研究表明其在治疗疾病方面具有益处,但确切的作用机制仍不清楚。已有研究表明,taVNS 可以影响内脏感觉信号。值得注意的是,内脏感觉信号的处理与许多疾病直接相关,如抑郁、焦虑和失眠。在 taVNS 诱导信号的自下而上传递过程中,岛叶和内侧前额叶皮层(MPFC)之间进行通讯,两者都在处理内脏感觉信号中发挥作用。通过关注岛叶和 MPFC,我们的研究先驱详细阐述了内脏感觉信号处理与 taVNS 神经调节效应之间的潜在相互作用,为 taVNS 的神经生物学机制提供了新的见解。本研究采用了两种功能连接(基于感兴趣区和基于种子点)分析方法。我们观察到,在 taVNS 后,岛叶和 MPFC 之间的负连接显著减弱,而假刺激组则没有统计学变化。我们的研究结果阐明了连接迷走神经活动与特定脑区和网络内在功能连接的潜在机制。具体而言,我们的结果表明,taVNS 可能通过调节岛叶和 MPFC 之间的功能连接,增强灵活平衡内脏感觉意识和认知体验的能力。这种调节效应可能会影响身心相互作用,提示 taVNS 在治疗应用中的机制。
IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2024-10
BMC Complement Med Ther. 2025-7-3