Albayrak Samet, Aydin Berfin, Özen Gizem, Yalçin Faruk, Balık Merve, Yanık Hüseyin, Urgen Burcu A, Veldhuizen Maria Geraldine
Cognitive Science, Informatics Institute, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Türkiye.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Bilkent University, Ankara, Türkiye.
Brain Behav. 2025 Mar;15(3):e70355. doi: 10.1002/brb3.70355.
Chemosensory food signals are carried by the vagus nerve (VN) from the gut to the brain and these signals contribute to communicating fullness and caloric value of the consumed food in regulatory and reward-related contexts. Here, we aimed to explore whether neural responses to flavor can be modulated through noninvasive VN stimulation, which can be done transcutaneously (transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation [tVNS]) on the outer ear via the auricular branch of VN. The ideal stimulation location on the outer ear for tVNS is not agreed on but two candidate locations are cymba conchae and tragus.
In this study, we explore the optimal stimulation location for tVNS (cymba conchae, tragus, and cymba conchae and tragus) and timing of tVNS relative to chocolate milk presentation (during, after) in a within-participants design (15 participants). We examined various measures of efficacy; event-related potential from electroencephalogram, eye-blink rate, perceptual and hedonic aspects of flavor, swallowing behavior, and consumption behavior.
We observed no effect of stimulation location on any of the dependent variables. Unexpectedly, we observed a large effect of food consumption on spontaneous eye-blink rate.
In conclusion, overall we did not observe a clear optimal ear location for tVNS-induced modulation of neurophysiological, perceptual, and behavioral variables. Future studies may confirm whether spontaneous eye-blink rate can be a sensitive proxy for food reward-related phasic dopamine shifts.
化学感应性食物信号由迷走神经(VN)从肠道传递至大脑,这些信号有助于在调节和奖励相关情境中传递所摄入食物的饱腹感和热量值。在此,我们旨在探究对味道的神经反应是否可通过非侵入性迷走神经刺激进行调节,这种刺激可通过迷走神经的耳支经皮在外耳进行(经皮迷走神经刺激[tVNS])。对于tVNS在外耳的理想刺激位置尚无定论,但两个候选位置是耳甲艇和耳屏。
在本研究中,我们采用被试内设计(15名参与者)探究tVNS的最佳刺激位置(耳甲艇、耳屏以及耳甲艇和耳屏)以及tVNS相对于巧克力牛奶呈现的时间(期间、之后)。我们检查了各种疗效指标;脑电图的事件相关电位、眨眼率、味道的感知和享乐方面、吞咽行为以及消费行为。
我们未观察到刺激位置对任何因变量有影响。出乎意料的是,我们观察到食物消费对自发眨眼率有很大影响。
总之,总体而言,我们未观察到tVNS诱导的神经生理、感知和行为变量调节存在明确的最佳耳部位置。未来的研究可能会证实自发眨眼率是否可作为食物奖励相关的阶段性多巴胺变化的敏感指标。