title: Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation modulates amygdala functional connectivity in patients with depression.
abstract: The amygdala is a key region in emotion processing, and studies have suggested that amygdala-frontal functional connectivity deficits could be modulated by antidepressants in major depressive disorder (MDD). Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), a non-invasive, peripheral neuromodulation method at the ear, has shown promising results in treating major depressive disorder (MDD) in several pilot studies. However, the neural mechanism underlying tVNS treatment of depression has not been fully investigated. In this study, we investigated how tVNS can modulate the amygdala-lateral prefrontal network resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in mild or moderate major depressive disorder (MDD) patients.
  
  
  
  Forty-nine MDD patients were recruited and received tVNS or sham tVNS (stVNS) treatments for four weeks. Resting state fMRI scans were applied before and after treatments.
  
  
  
  After 1 month of tVNS treatment, the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) scores were reduced significantly in the tVNS group as compared with the sham tVNS group. The rsFC in the tVNS group between the right amygdala and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was increased compared with sham tVNS. All the rsFC increases were also associated with HAMD reduction as well as reductions in the anxiety and retardation HAMD subscales.
  
  
  
  tVNS can significantly modulate the amygdala-lateral prefrontal rsFC of MDD patients; our results provide insights into the brain mechanism of tVNS treatment for MDD patients.
authors: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China.
authors: Jiliang
authors: J
authors: Fang
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Zengjian
authors: Z
authors: Wang
authors: Institute of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China. Electronic address: rongpj@hotmail.com.
authors: Peijing
authors: P
authors: Rong
authors: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China.
authors: Yang
authors: Y
authors: Hong
authors: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China.
authors: Yangyang
authors: Y
authors: Fan
authors: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China.
authors: Xiaoling
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
authors: Joel
authors: J
authors: Park
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Jin
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Department of Radiology and Psychiatry, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100088, China.
authors: Chunhong
authors: C
authors: Liu
authors: Institute of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
authors: Bing
authors: B
authors: Zhu
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA. Electronic address: kongj@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Kong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055536:Vagus Nerve Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Amygdala; Depression; Emotion; Resting-state functional connectivity; Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation