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Effects of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Sex on the Autonomic Response to Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation

This study aimed to determine how transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) alters autonomic nervous activity by comparing the effects of different tVNS frequencies and current intensities. We also investigated the sex-dependent autonomic response to tVNS. Thirty-five healthy adult participants...

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Autores principales: Yokota, Hirotake, Edama, Mutsuaki, Hirabayashi, Ryo, Sekine, Chie, Otsuru, Naofumi, Saito, Kei, Kojima, Sho, Miyaguchi, Shota, Onishi, Hideaki
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9405815/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36009101
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12081038
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author Yokota, Hirotake
Edama, Mutsuaki
Hirabayashi, Ryo
Sekine, Chie
Otsuru, Naofumi
Saito, Kei
Kojima, Sho
Miyaguchi, Shota
Onishi, Hideaki
author_facet Yokota, Hirotake
Edama, Mutsuaki
Hirabayashi, Ryo
Sekine, Chie
Otsuru, Naofumi
Saito, Kei
Kojima, Sho
Miyaguchi, Shota
Onishi, Hideaki
author_sort Yokota, Hirotake
collection PubMed
description This study aimed to determine how transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) alters autonomic nervous activity by comparing the effects of different tVNS frequencies and current intensities. We also investigated the sex-dependent autonomic response to tVNS. Thirty-five healthy adult participants were stimulated using a tVNS stimulator at the left cymba conchae while sitting on a reclining chair; tVNS-induced waveform changes were then recorded for different stimulus frequencies (Experiment 1: 3.0 mA at 100 Hz, 25 Hz, 10 Hz, 1 Hz, and 0 Hz (no stimulation)) and current intensities (Experiment 2: 100 Hz at 3.0 mA, 1.0 mA, 0.2 mA (below sensory threshold), and 0 mA (no stimulation)) using an electrocardiogram. Pulse widths were set at 250 µs in both experiment 1 and 2. Changes in heart rate (HR), root-mean-square of the difference between two successive R waves (RMSSD), and the ratio between low-frequency (LF) (0.04–0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (HF) (0.15–0.40 Hz) bands (LF/HF) in spectral analysis, which indicates sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, respectively, in heart rate variability (HRV), were recorded for analysis. Although stimulation at all frequencies significantly reduced HR (p = 0.001), stimulation at 100 Hz had the most pronounced effect (p = 0.001) in Experiment 1 and was revealed to be required to deliver at 3.0 mA in Experiment 2 (p = 0.003). Additionally, participants with higher baseline sympathetic activity experienced higher parasympathetic response during stimulation, and sex differences may exist in the autonomic responses by the application of tVNS. Therefore, our findings suggest that optimal autonomic changes induced by tVNS to the left cymba conchae vary depending on stimulating parameters and sex.
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spelling pubmed-94058152022-08-26 Effects of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Sex on the Autonomic Response to Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Yokota, Hirotake Edama, Mutsuaki Hirabayashi, Ryo Sekine, Chie Otsuru, Naofumi Saito, Kei Kojima, Sho Miyaguchi, Shota Onishi, Hideaki Brain Sci Article This study aimed to determine how transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) alters autonomic nervous activity by comparing the effects of different tVNS frequencies and current intensities. We also investigated the sex-dependent autonomic response to tVNS. Thirty-five healthy adult participants were stimulated using a tVNS stimulator at the left cymba conchae while sitting on a reclining chair; tVNS-induced waveform changes were then recorded for different stimulus frequencies (Experiment 1: 3.0 mA at 100 Hz, 25 Hz, 10 Hz, 1 Hz, and 0 Hz (no stimulation)) and current intensities (Experiment 2: 100 Hz at 3.0 mA, 1.0 mA, 0.2 mA (below sensory threshold), and 0 mA (no stimulation)) using an electrocardiogram. Pulse widths were set at 250 µs in both experiment 1 and 2. Changes in heart rate (HR), root-mean-square of the difference between two successive R waves (RMSSD), and the ratio between low-frequency (LF) (0.04–0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (HF) (0.15–0.40 Hz) bands (LF/HF) in spectral analysis, which indicates sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, respectively, in heart rate variability (HRV), were recorded for analysis. Although stimulation at all frequencies significantly reduced HR (p = 0.001), stimulation at 100 Hz had the most pronounced effect (p = 0.001) in Experiment 1 and was revealed to be required to deliver at 3.0 mA in Experiment 2 (p = 0.003). Additionally, participants with higher baseline sympathetic activity experienced higher parasympathetic response during stimulation, and sex differences may exist in the autonomic responses by the application of tVNS. Therefore, our findings suggest that optimal autonomic changes induced by tVNS to the left cymba conchae vary depending on stimulating parameters and sex. MDPI 2022-08-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9405815/ /pubmed/36009101 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12081038 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Yokota, Hirotake
Edama, Mutsuaki
Hirabayashi, Ryo
Sekine, Chie
Otsuru, Naofumi
Saito, Kei
Kojima, Sho
Miyaguchi, Shota
Onishi, Hideaki
Effects of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Sex on the Autonomic Response to Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation
title Effects of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Sex on the Autonomic Response to Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation
title_full Effects of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Sex on the Autonomic Response to Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation
title_fullStr Effects of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Sex on the Autonomic Response to Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Sex on the Autonomic Response to Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation
title_short Effects of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Sex on the Autonomic Response to Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation
title_sort effects of stimulus frequency, intensity, and sex on the autonomic response to transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9405815/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36009101
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12081038
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