Age effect on far field potentials from the brain stem after transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation

Vagus Somatosensory Evoked Potentials – A Possibility for Diagnostic Improvement in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

“…In accordance with our previous studies [26,27], the following data refers to the recordings of the right channels during stimulation at the right tragus. An EP with unique and clearly identifiable peaks (P1, N1, and P2) was observed in 20 out of 27 HC with location, shape, latencies, and amplitudes well in line with cited studies.…”

“…A previous investigation showed a clear somatosensory potential, which has been shown to be reproducible [25]. This somatosensory potential is characterized by prolonged latencies with increasing age [26]. In addition, neurodegenerative processes such as AD have been found to further increase the latency of the potential, which -in contrast -could not be demonstrated for patients with cerebrovascular diseases [27,28].…”

Vagus nerve somatosensory evoked potentials in Parkinson’s disease

“…None of the participants showed signs of cognitive impairment in clinical evaluation. Stimulation was done according to published procedures [4,7] on the inner side of the tragus (electrical square impulses of 0.1-ms duration, interstimulus interval 2 s, stimulus intensity 8 mA). Evoked potentials were recorded bipolarily from the electrode positions C3-F3, C4-F4, Fz-F3, Fz-F4 (scalp electrodes, impedances\2 kX, band-pass 0.1-1 kHz, analysis time 10 ms, averaging of 100 artifactfree epochs).…”

Vagal Nerve Stimulation: A Potentially Useful Adjuvant to Treatment of Sepsis

“…The transcutaneous VNS can be achieved by placing electrode in the external auditory canal at the inner side of the tragus. In this way, stimulation is conducted via the auricular nerve to the jugular ganglion, from there through the vagal nerve into the medulla oblongata and to the nucleus of tractus solitarius (NTS) (47). NTS is a major site for termination of vagal afferents, and NTS neurons then project to DMN where most of the efferent vagal preganglionic fibers originate (8).…”

“…Third, it may avoid the infection, one of the most common side effects of the VNS, and other complications of the VNS (49) because of its non-invasive feature. Fourth, the transcutaneous VNS has the same effect as direct VNS (47). Fifth, theoretically, it may not increase the risk of death to critical ill patients.…”