Background

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been investigated regarding its therapeutic properties in several several conditions such as epilepsy, migraine and major depressive disorder and was shown to access similar neural pathways as invasive vagus nerve stimulation. While the vagus nerve's role in gut motility is physiologically established, the effect of taVNS has scarcely been investigated in humans and yielded conflicting results. Real-time gastric magnetic resonance imaging (rtMRI) is an established reproducible method to investigate gastric motility non-invasively.

Objective

To investigate the influence of taVNS on gastric motility of healthy participants using rtMRI.

Methods

We conducted a randomized, double-blind study using high-frequency (HF) stimulation at 25Hz or low-frequency (LF) taVNS at 1Hz after ingestions of a standardized meal in 57 healthy participants. The gastric motility index (GMI) was determined by measuring the amplitude and velocity of the peristaltic waves using rtMRI.

Results

After HF taVNS, GMI was significantly higher than after LF stimulation (p = 0.005), which was mainly attributable to a higher amplitude of the peristaltic waves (p = 0.003).

Conclusion

We provide evidence that 4-h of taVNS influences gastric motility in healthy human participants for the first time using rtMRI. HF stimulation is associated with higher amplitudes of peristaltic waves in the gastric antrum compared to LF stimulation. Further studies are needed to investigate the effect of different frequencies of taVNS and its therapeutic properties in conditions with impaired gastric motility.

中文翻译：

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经皮耳部迷走神经刺激影响胃动力：一项针对健康个体的随机双盲试验

背景

已经研究了经皮耳部迷走神经刺激 (taVNS) 在几种情况下的治疗特性，如癫痫、偏头痛和重度抑郁症，并显示出与侵入性迷走神经刺激类似的神经通路。虽然迷走神经在肠道运动中的作用在生理上已经确立，但 tavns 的作用在人类中几乎没有被研究过，并且产生了相互矛盾的结果。实时胃核磁共振成像 (rtMRI) 是一种既定的可重复的非侵入性研究胃动力的方法。

客观的

使用 rtMRI 研究 tavns 对健康参与者胃动力的影响。

方法

我们在 57 名健康参与者摄入标准化膳食后，使用 25Hz 的高频 (HF) 刺激或 1Hz 的低频 (LF) tavNS 进行了一项随机、双盲研究。通过使用 rtMRI 测量蠕动波的幅度和速度来确定胃动力指数 (GMI)。

结果

HF tavNS 后，GMI 显着高于 LF 刺激后 (p = 0.005)，这主要归因于蠕动波的振幅较高 (p = 0.003)。

结论

我们提供的证据表明，4 小时 tavNS 首次使用 rtMRI 影响健康人类参与者的胃动力。与 LF 刺激相比，HF 刺激与胃窦中更高振幅的蠕动波相关。需要进一步的研究来研究不同频率的 tavns 的影响及其在胃动力受损的情况下的治疗特性。