Fu Chengwei, Hou Xiaoyan, Zheng Chunye, Zhang Yue, Gao Zhijie, Yan Zhaoxian, Ye Yongsong, Liu Bo
Department of Acupuncture, Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, China.
Department of Acupuncture, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, China.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2024 Oct 23;16:1444703. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1444703. eCollection 2024.
Previous studies have evaluated the safety and efficacy of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the mechanism underlying the effect of taVNS on PD remains to be elucidated. This study aimed to investigate the immediate effects of taVNS in PD patients.
This crossover self-controlled study included 50 PD patients. Each patient underwent three sessions of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) under three conditions: real taVNS, sham taVNS, and no taVNS intervention. We analyzed whole-brain amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) from preprocessed fMRI data across different intervention conditions. ALFF values in altered brain regions were correlated with clinical symptoms in PD patients.
Forty-seven participants completed the study and were included in the final analysis. Real taVNS was associated with a widespread decrease in ALFF in the right hemisphere, including the superior parietal lobule, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and cuneus (voxel < 0.001, GRF corrected). The ALFF value in the right superior parietal lobule during real taVNS was negatively correlated with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part III ( = -0.417, = 0.004, Bonferroni corrected).
TaVNS could immediately modulate the functional activity of brain regions involved in superior parietal lobule, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and cuneus. These findings offer preliminary insights into the mechanism of taVNS in treating PD and bolster confidence in its long-term therapeutic potential. TaVNS appears to reduce ALFF values in specific brain regions, suggesting a potential modulation mechanism for treating PD.
以往的研究评估了经皮耳迷走神经刺激（taVNS）治疗帕金森病（PD）的安全性和有效性。然而，taVNS对PD的作用机制仍有待阐明。本研究旨在探讨taVNS对PD患者的即时效应。
本交叉自我对照研究纳入了50例PD患者。每位患者在三种条件下接受三次静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）：真正的taVNS、假taVNS和无taVNS干预。我们分析了不同干预条件下预处理后的fMRI数据的全脑低频振幅（ALFF）。PD患者脑区改变的ALFF值与临床症状相关。
47名参与者完成了研究并纳入最终分析。真正的taVNS与右半球包括顶上小叶、中央前回、中央后回、枕中回和楔叶的ALFF广泛降低相关（体素<0.001，GRF校正）。真正的taVNS期间右顶上小叶的ALFF值与统一帕金森病评定量表第三部分呈负相关（r=-0.417，P=0.004，Bonferroni校正）。
TaVNS可立即调节顶上小叶、中央前回、中央后回、枕中回和楔叶等脑区的功能活动。这些发现为taVNS治疗PD的机制提供了初步见解，并增强了对其长期治疗潜力的信心。TaVNS似乎降低了特定脑区的ALFF值，提示了一种治疗PD的潜在调节机制。
