Immediate Modulation of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Overview

Journal Front Psychiatry

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2022 Jul 18

PMID 35845466

Authors

Jifei Sun

Yue Ma

Zhongming Du

Zhi Wang

Chunlei Guo

Yi Luo

Limei Chen

Deqiang Gao

Xiaojiao Li

Ke Xu

Yang Hong

Fengquan Xu

Xue Yu

Xue Xiao

JiLiang Fang

Xiaobing Hou

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Previous studies found that transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) was clinically effective in treating a case of treatment-resistant depression (TRD). However, the brain neural mechanisms underlying the immediate effects of taVNS treatment for TRD have not been elucidated.

Materials And Methods: Differences in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) between TRD and healthy control (HC) groups were observed. The TRD group was treated with taVNS for 30 min, and changes in ALFF in the TRD group before and after immediate treatment were observed. The ALFF brain regions altered by taVNS induction were used as regions of interest to analyze whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) changes in the TRD group.

Results: A total of 44 TRD patients and 44 HCs completed the study and were included in the data analysis. Compared with the HC group, the TRD group had increased ALFF in the left orbital area of the middle frontal gyrus. After taVNS treatment, ALFF in the left orbital area of the middle frontal gyrus and right middle frontal gyrus decreased in the TRD group, while ALFF in the right orbital area of the superior frontal gyrus increased. The FC in the left orbital area of the middle frontal gyrus with left middle frontal gyrus and the right inferior occipital gyrus was significantly increased.

Conclusion: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation demonstrates immediate modulation of functional activity in the emotional network, cognitive control network, and visual processing cortex, and may be a potential brain imaging biomarker for the treatment of TRD.

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