title: Transcutaneous cervical vagal nerve stimulation modulates cardiac vagal tone and tumor necrosis factor-alpha.
abstract: The vagus nerve is a central component of cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathways. We sought to evaluate the effect of bilateral transcutaneous cervical vagal nerve stimulation (t-VNS) on validated parameters of autonomic tone and cytokines in 20 healthy subjects. 24 hours after t-VNS, there was an increase in cardiac vagal tone and a reduction in tumor necrosis factor-α in comparison to baseline. No change was seen in blood pressure, cardiac sympathetic index or other cytokines. These preliminary data suggest that t-VNS exerts an autonomic and a subtle antitumor necrosis factor-α effect, which warrants further evaluation in larger controlled studies.
authors.affiliation: Mech-Sense, Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.affiliation: Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma, Blizard Institute, Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Møller
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer Jensen
authors.affiliation: Mech-Sense, Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Drewes
authors.affiliation: Mech-Sense, Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.|Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma, Blizard Institute, Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.|Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospitals of North Midlands, Stoke on Trent, UK.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Farmer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood*; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D055536:Vagus Nerve Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
keywords: autonomic nervous system; cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway; vagal nerve stimulation