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Behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation

An accruing body of research has shown that interoception (the sensing of signals from the body's internal milieu) relies on both a direct route (afforded by the vagus nerve) and a secondary route (supported by somatosensory mechanisms). However, no study has causally tested the differential ro...

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Autores principales: Richter, Fabian, García, Adolfo M., Rodriguez Arriagada, Nicolas, Yoris, Adrian, Birba, Agustina, Huepe, David, Zimmer, Heinz, Ibáñez, Agustín, Sedeño, Lucas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7927286/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33325575
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25288
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author Richter, Fabian
García, Adolfo M.
Rodriguez Arriagada, Nicolas
Yoris, Adrian
Birba, Agustina
Huepe, David
Zimmer, Heinz
Ibáñez, Agustín
Sedeño, Lucas
author_facet Richter, Fabian
García, Adolfo M.
Rodriguez Arriagada, Nicolas
Yoris, Adrian
Birba, Agustina
Huepe, David
Zimmer, Heinz
Ibáñez, Agustín
Sedeño, Lucas
author_sort Richter, Fabian
collection PubMed
description An accruing body of research has shown that interoception (the sensing of signals from the body's internal milieu) relies on both a direct route (afforded by the vagus nerve) and a secondary route (supported by somatosensory mechanisms). However, no study has causally tested the differential role of these pathways, let alone via direct stimulation. To bridge this gap, we tested whether multidimensional signatures of interoception are modulated by noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS). Sixty‐three participants were divided into an nVNS and a sham‐stimulation group. Before and after stimulation, both groups performed a validated heartbeat detection (HBD) task including a genuinely interoceptive condition (monitoring one's own heartbeat) and a control exteroceptive condition (tracking an aurally presented heartbeat). Electroencephalographic signals were obtained during both conditions to examine modulations of the heartbeat‐evoked potential (HEP). Moreover, before and after stimulation, participants were asked to complete a somatosensory heartbeat localization task. Results from the interoceptive condition revealed that, after treatment, only the nVNS group exhibited improved performance and greater HEP modulations. No behavioral differences were found for the exteroceptive control condition, which was nonetheless associated with significant HEP modulations. Finally, no between‐group differences were observed regarding the localization of the heartbeat sensations or relevant cardiodynamic variables (heart rate and or heart rate variability). Taken together, these results constitute unprecedented evidence that the vagus nerve plays a direct role in neurovisceral integration during interoception. This finding can constrain mechanistic models of the domain while informing a promising transdiagnostic agenda for interoceptive impairments across neuropsychiatric conditions.
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spelling pubmed-79272862021-03-12 Behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation Richter, Fabian García, Adolfo M. Rodriguez Arriagada, Nicolas Yoris, Adrian Birba, Agustina Huepe, David Zimmer, Heinz Ibáñez, Agustín Sedeño, Lucas Hum Brain Mapp Research Articles An accruing body of research has shown that interoception (the sensing of signals from the body's internal milieu) relies on both a direct route (afforded by the vagus nerve) and a secondary route (supported by somatosensory mechanisms). However, no study has causally tested the differential role of these pathways, let alone via direct stimulation. To bridge this gap, we tested whether multidimensional signatures of interoception are modulated by noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS). Sixty‐three participants were divided into an nVNS and a sham‐stimulation group. Before and after stimulation, both groups performed a validated heartbeat detection (HBD) task including a genuinely interoceptive condition (monitoring one's own heartbeat) and a control exteroceptive condition (tracking an aurally presented heartbeat). Electroencephalographic signals were obtained during both conditions to examine modulations of the heartbeat‐evoked potential (HEP). Moreover, before and after stimulation, participants were asked to complete a somatosensory heartbeat localization task. Results from the interoceptive condition revealed that, after treatment, only the nVNS group exhibited improved performance and greater HEP modulations. No behavioral differences were found for the exteroceptive control condition, which was nonetheless associated with significant HEP modulations. Finally, no between‐group differences were observed regarding the localization of the heartbeat sensations or relevant cardiodynamic variables (heart rate and or heart rate variability). Taken together, these results constitute unprecedented evidence that the vagus nerve plays a direct role in neurovisceral integration during interoception. This finding can constrain mechanistic models of the domain while informing a promising transdiagnostic agenda for interoceptive impairments across neuropsychiatric conditions. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2020-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC7927286/ /pubmed/33325575 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25288 Text en © 2020 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Richter, Fabian
García, Adolfo M.
Rodriguez Arriagada, Nicolas
Yoris, Adrian
Birba, Agustina
Huepe, David
Zimmer, Heinz
Ibáñez, Agustín
Sedeño, Lucas
Behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation
title Behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation
title_full Behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation
title_fullStr Behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation
title_full_unstemmed Behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation
title_short Behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation
title_sort behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of interoceptive enhancements following vagus nerve stimulation
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7927286/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33325575
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25288
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