A distinct biomarker of continuous transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation treatment in major depressive disorder
Open accessAbstract
Background Major depression is the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide and poses a socioeconomic burden worldwide. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a promising noninvasive clinical device that may reduce the severity of major depression. However, the neural mechanism underlying continuous tVNS has not yet been elucidated.Objective We aimed to explore the effect of hypothalamic subregion functional connectivity (FC) changes during continuous tVNS treatment on major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and to identify the potential biomarkers for treatment outcomes.Methods Forty-one mild to moderate MDD patients were recruited and received either real or sham tVNS treatment for 4 weeks. We used a seed-to-whole brain approach to estimate the FC changes of hypothalamic subregions and their surrounding control areas during continuous tVNS treatment and explored their association with clinical outcome changes after 4 weeks of treatment.Results Of the thirty-six patients that completed the study, those in the tVNS group had significantly lower scores on the 24-item Hamilton Depression (HAM-D) Rating Scale compared to the sham tVNS group after 4 weeks of treatment. The FC between the bilateral medial hypothalamus (MH) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) was significantly decreased during tVNS but not during sham tVNS. The strength of this FC was significantly correlated with HAM-D improvements after 4 weeks of tVNS.Conclusion The FC between the bilateral MH and rACC may serve as a potential biomarker for the tVNS state and predict treatment responses. Our results provide insights into the neural modulation mechanisms of continuous tVNS and reveal a potential therapeutic target for MDD patients.
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The interventions used in the control groups were all sham taVNS.
“The interventions used in the control groups were all sham taVNS.[13–15]”
From Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in treating major depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2018) · cites this paper as [15]
Confounding bias was not reported in the two non-RCT studies.
“In contrast, the confounding bias was not reported in any of these 2 trials.[14,15]”
From Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in treating major depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2018) · cites this paper as [15]
One study recorded the side effects of taVNS in treating major depressive disorder but did not report the adverse outcomes.
“One studies recorded the side effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in treating major depressive disorder but did not report the adverse outcomes.[15]”
From Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in treating major depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2018) · cites this paper as [15]
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Vagus nerve stimulation boosts the drive to work for rewards
Neuser, M. P., Teckentrup, V., Kühnel, A., Hallschmid, M., Walter, M., & Kroemer, N. B. (2020) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17344-9 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
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“In addition, we found that continuous taVNS at 20 Hz can significantly modulate the rsFC of the hypothalamus (Tu et al., 2018).”
The gut-brain axis and cognitive control: A role for the vagus nerve
Décarie-Spain, L., Hayes, A., Lauer, L. T., & Kanoski, S. E. (2023) · Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2023.02.004 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Tan, C., Qiao, M., Ma, Y., Luo, Y., Fang, J., & Yang, Y. (2023) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.05.048 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Wu, C., Liu, P., Fu, H., Chen, W., Cui, S., Lu, L., & Tang, C. (2018) · Medicine · doi:10.1097/md.0000000000013845 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulators: a review of past, present, and future devices
Wang, L., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., wang, F., Zhang, J., Li, S., Wu, M., Li, L., & Rong, P. (2021) · Expert Review of Medical Devices · doi:10.1080/17434440.2022.2020095 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
“stimulated in five studies by Hein [7], Tu [42], Zhao [53], and Usichenko [56].”
BackgroundMethodNon-invasive vagus nerve stimulation boosts mood recovery after effort exertion
Ferstl, M., Teckentrup, V., Lin, W. M., Kräutlein, F., Kühnel, A., Klaus, J., Walter, M., & Kroemer, N. B. (2021) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291720005073 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Faraji, N., Payami, B., Ebadpour, N., & Gorji, A. (2024) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105990 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Briand, M., Gosseries, O., Staumont, B., Laureys, S., & Thibaut, A. (2020) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.00933 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Machetanz, K., Berelidze, L., Guggenberger, R., & Gharabaghi, A. (2021) · Autonomic Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.autneu.2021.102894 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Li, S., Rong, P., Wang, Y., Jin, G., Hou, X., Li, S., Xiao, X., Zhou, W., Wu, Y., Liu, Y., et al. (2022) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1016/j.neurom.2021.10.021 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
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Cao, J., Zhang, Y., Li, H., Yan, Z., Liu, X., Hou, X., Chen, W., Hodges, S., Kong, J., & Liu, B. (2021) · Journal of Translational Medicine · doi:10.1186/s12967-021-03024-9 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
“In recent studies, we also applied the resting-state functional connectivity method to investigate the functional connectivity alteration during “the continuous taVNS” (20 Hz) and found that taVNS can modulate the functional connectivity of the ventral striatum and hypothalamus [30, 31].”
MethodGuo, X. Y., Zhao, Y., Huang, F., Li, S., Luo, M., Wang, Y., Zhang, J., Li, L., Zhang, Y., Jiao, Y., et al. (2020) · Neural Plasticity · doi:10.1155/2020/8885729 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Bremner, J. D., Wittbrodt, M. T., Gurel, N. Z., Shandhi, M. H., Gazi, A. H., Jiao, Y., Levantsevych, O. M., Huang, M., Beckwith, J., Herring, I., et al. (2021) · Journal of Affective Disorders Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100190 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“Other studies in patients with depression showed taVNS resulted in changes in brain regions implicated in that disorder (Fang et al., 2017; Fang et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2016; Tu et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2018).”
ResultWu, H., Zheng, Y., Zhan, Q., Dong, J., Peng, H., Zhai, J., Zhao, J., She, S., & Wu, C. (2019) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291719003647 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81601168), the Medical Scientific Research Foundation of Guangdong Province of China (B2018063), the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation of China (2015A030313800), and the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (ZR2017LH036).”
MethodInfluentialTranscutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation in Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Feasibility Study
Evensen, K., Jørgensen, M. B., Sabers, A., & Martiny, K. (2021) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1111/ner.13366 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Sun, J., Guo, C., Ma, Y., Gao, S., Luo, Y., Chen, Q., Yang, H., Hou, X., Xiao, X., Yu, X., et al. (2023) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.01.035 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Neural plasticity and depression treatment
Wang, Y., Song, N., Ding, Y., & Zhang, L. (2022) · IBRO Neuroscience Reports · doi:10.1016/j.ibneur.2022.09.001 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Brain–Heart Interaction During Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation
Machetanz, K., Berelidze, L., Guggenberger, R., & Gharabaghi, A. (2021) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2021.632697 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
He, J., Jia, B., Wang, Y., Li, S., Zhao, B., Zhou, Z.-G., Bi, Y., Wu, M., Li, L., Zhang, J., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.827749 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Yu, Y., Yang, Y., Gan, S., Guo, S., Fang, J., Wang, S., Tang, C., Bai, L., He, J., & Rong, P. (2021) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2021.684791 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Luo, W., Zhang, Y., Yan, Z., Liu, X., Hou, X., Chen, W., Ye, Y., Li, H., & Liu, B. (2020) · Neural Plasticity · doi:10.1155/2020/8870589 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Then, the differences of the zFC values were compared using a paired t-test between taVNS and staVNS in the two states, and p < 0:05 was considered to be statistically significant [28].”
BackgroundMethodThe Predictive Potential of Heart Rate Variability for Depression
Galin, S., & Keren, H. (2024) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.03.013 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“Furthermore, the strength of this connectivity was found to be linked to improvements in depression symptoms (Tu et al., 2018).”
Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation conditions increased invigoration and wanting in depression
Ferstl, M., Kühnel, A., Klaus, J., Lin, W. M., & Kroemer, N. B. (2024) · Comprehensive Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2024.152488 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Altered functional connectivity between hypothalamus and limbic system in fibromyalgia
Kong, J., Huang, Y., Liu, J., Yu, S., Cheng, M. S., Chen, H., Wilson, G., Harvey, W. F., Li, W., & Wang, C. (2021) · Molecular Brain · doi:10.1186/s13041-020-00705-2 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Zhu, S., Zhang, X., Zhou, M., Kendrick, K. M., & Zhao, W. (2022) · Frontiers in Endocrinology · doi:10.3389/fendo.2022.1000758 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“Several studies have now also used taVNS as a noninvasive alternative of VNS, and found beneficial effects on mood in adult MDD patients (17, 49).”
BackgroundSzulczewski, M. T. (2021) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1111/ner.13458 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Brain signaling dynamics after vagus nerve stimulation
Teckentrup, V., Krylova, M., Jamalabadi, H., Neubert, S., Neuser, M. P., Hartig, R., Fallgatter, A. J., Walter, M., & Kroemer, N. B. (2021) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118679 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Parente, J., Gianlorenço, A. C., Rebello‐Sanchez, I., Kim, M., Prati, J. M., Kim, C. K., Choi, S., Song, J., & Fregni, F. (2023) · The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1093/ijnp/pyad058 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“However, the analysis was performed using the data from 3 studies, 2 of which were duplicated analyses of the same experiment, yielding limited conclusions (Rong et al., 2016; Tu et al., 2018).”
BackgroundMethodGarcia, R. G., Cohen, J. E., Stanford, A. D., Gabriel, A. S., Stowell, J. A., Aizley, H. G., Barbieri, R., Gitlin, D., Napadow, V., & Goldstein, J. M. (2021) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.07.048 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Austelle, C. W., Cox, S. S., Connolly, D. J., Vogel, B. B., Peng, X., Wills, K. E., Sutton, F., Tucker, K. B., Ashley, E., Manett, A. J., et al. (2025) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1016/j.neurom.2025.02.003 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“34,36,37 The implanted VNS for depression trials 51,52 indicated that significant antidepressant effects do not appear until approximately three months after implantation and continue to grow up to two years.”
Deligiannidis, K. M., Robakis, T. K., Homitsky, S. C., Ibroçi, E., King, B., Jacob, S., Coppola, D., Raines, S. R., & Alataris, K. (2022) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2022.07.068 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Saccà, V., Zhang, Y., Cao, J., Li, H., Yan, Z., Ye, Y., Hou, X., McDonald, C. M., Todorova, N., Kong, J., et al. (2022) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1016/j.neurom.2022.08.459 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Höper, S., Kaess, M., & Koenig, J. (2022) · Autonomic Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.autneu.2022.103008 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Brain effect of transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation: A m eta‐analysis of neuroimaging evidence
Rajiah, R., Takahashi, K., Aziz, Q., & Ruffle, J. K. (2022) · Neurogastroenterology & Motility · doi:10.1111/nmo.14484 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Horinouchi, T., Nezu, T., Saita, K., Date, S., Kurumadani, H., Maruyama, H., & Kirimoto, H. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-61958-8 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“As previously mentioned, past research has suggested that SAI can serve as a biomarker for cholinergic neuron function 26,52 , and the vagus nerve is known to project to the basal forebrain 22,23,48 .”
MethodSun, J., Ma, Y., Du, Z., Wang, Z., Guo, C., Luo, Y., Chen, L., Gao, D., Li, X., Xu, K., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.923783 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“Previously, we showed that taVNS can alleviate the clinical symptoms of patients with MDD by modulating the function of the DMN and SN (23, 35, 36).”
BackgroundSun, J., Sun, K., Chen, L.-M., Li, X., Xu, K., Guo, C., Ma, Y., Cao, J., Zhang, G., Yang, H., et al. (2024) · Asian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2024.104079 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Affects Implicit Spiritual Self-Representations
Finisguerra, A., Crescentini, C., & Urgesi, C. (2019) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.05.059 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Resting-state functional connectivity of the human hypothalamus
Kullmann, S., & Veit, R. (2021) · Handbook of clinical neurology · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-819975-6.00005-4 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Rings, T., von Wrede, R. D., Bröhl, T., Schach, S., Helmstaedter, C., & Lehnertz, K. (2021) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.700261 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Guo, Z.-P., Sörös, P., Zhang, Z.-Q., Yang, M.-H., Liao, D., & Liu, C.-H. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.765106 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“In addition, studies have reported decreased connectivity of medial hypothalamus (MH) with rACC, and DMN with anterior insula and parahippocampus (72, 85, 122, 123).”
BackgroundMa, Y., Li, R., Zhan, W., Huang, X., Zhang, L., & Liu, Z. (2022) · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.849384 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“We excluded subjects because of (1) no depressive symptoms assessment results, (2) lack of baseline status such as education and physical activities, (3) Lack of food intake data.”
BackgroundAn interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health
Mehrhof, S. Z., Fleming, H. A., & Nord, C. L. (2025) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.ady4356 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Konakoğlu, G., Özden, A. V., Solmaz, H., & Bildik, C. (2023) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1215757 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“The effect of auricular VNS on the interaction between the ANS and the CNS can be determined by different measurement methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), microneurography and pupillometry (Fallgatter et al., 2003; Kraus et al., 2013; Le…”
MethodXiao, X., Hou, X., Zhang, Z., Li, Y., Yu, X., Wang, Y., Tian, J., & Xu, K. (2020) · Pediatric Investigation · doi:10.1002/ped4.12198 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Efficacy of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation as treatment for depression: A systematic review
Guerriero, G., Wartenberg, C., Bernhardsson, S., Gunnarsson, S., Ioannou, M., Liljedahl, S. I., Magnusson, K., Svanberg, T., & Steingrímsson, S. (2021) · Journal of Affective Disorders Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100233 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Chen, L., Tang, C., Wang, Z., Zhang, L., Gu, B., Liu, X., & Ming, D. (2023) · IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics · doi:10.1109/jbhi.2023.3344176 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“Recently, transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS)[12] has gained increasing attention due to its non-invasive nature [13], [14], [15], [16], affordability [17], [18], [19], [21] and ease of implementation [22], [23].”
BackgroundWang, C., Wu, B., Lin, R., Cheng, Y., Huang, J., Chen, Y., & Bai, J. (2024) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2024.1516242 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Gao, F., Wang, L., Wang, Z., Tian, Y., Wu, J., Wang, M., & Wang, L. (2025) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2025.1519939 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Li, T., Wu, Y., Li, Y., Hodges, S., Reddy, S., Chen, L. L., Saccà, V., & Kong, J. (2025) · Neurotherapeutics · doi:10.1016/j.neurot.2025.e00611 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“Secondly, we employed a stimulating frequency of 20 Hz based on our previous research,whichdemonstratedthattaVNSatthisfrequencycouldeffectively alleviate depressive symptoms and modulate sFC in various brain regions such as the amygdala [87], ventral striatum [11], hypothalamus [88], and DMN [11].”
He, J., Li, S., Wang, Y., Zhao, B., Xiao, X., Hou, X., Zhang, S., Zhao, Y., Zhai, W., Fang, J., et al. (2023) · Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.47626/1516-4446-2022-2788 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Wu, H., Wu, C., Wu, F., Zhan, Q., Peng, H., Wang, J., Zhao, J., Ning, Y., Zheng, Y., & She, S. (2020) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.08.002 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Lin, D., Ren, Q., Ou, Y., Li, L., Peng, D., & Yang, S. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1536660 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Battlefield Acupuncture as a Treatment for Pain
Salamone, F. J., & Federman, D. G. (2021) · Southern Medical Journal · doi:10.14423/smj.0000000000001232 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Wang, Y., Li, L., Li, S., Fang, J., Zhang, J., Wang, J., Zhang, Z., Wang, Y., He, J., Zhang, Y., et al. (2020) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1111/ner.13346 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Xu, Z. Y. R., Fang, J. J., Fan, X. Q., Xu, L., Jin, G. F., Lei, M. H., Wang, Y., Liu, J. B., Dong, F., Jiang, L., et al. (2024) · Epilepsy & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2024.110226 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Vagus nerve stimulation for the therapy of Dravet syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Chen, S., Li, M., & Huang, M. (2024) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2024.1402989 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Frank, N., Nagai, M., & Förster, C. Y. (2023) · Exploration of Neuroprotective Therapy · doi:10.37349/ent.2023.00056 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
New Somatic Treatments for Child and Adolescent Depression
Cullen, K. R., Padilla, L. E., Papke, V. N., & Klimes-Dougan, B. (2019) · Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s40501-019-00194-8 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Brain mapping inflammatory-arthritis-related fatigue in the pursuit of novel therapeutics
Stefanov, K., Al‐Wasity, S., Parkinson, J. T., Waiter, G. D., Cavanagh, J., & Basu, N. (2023) · The Lancet Rheumatology · doi:10.1016/s2665-9913(23)00007-3 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Guerriero, G., Liljedahl, S. I., Carlsen, H. K., Muñoz, M. L., Daros, A. R., Ruocco, A. C., & Steingrímsson, S. (2024) · Trials · doi:10.1186/s13063-024-08230-6 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Tu et al. [39] reported decreased connectivity between the bilateral medial hypothalamus and rACC in the taVNS group, correlating with symptom improvement.”
BackgroundLi, Y., Li, T., Yan, K., Wu, J., Reddy, S., Saccà, V., Ursitti, A. K., Zhu, M., Hodges, S., Chen, L. L., et al. (2025) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1016/j.neurom.2025.08.415 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Haakana, P., Nätkynmäki, A., Kirveskari, E., Mäkelä, J. P., Kilgard, M. P., Tarvainen, M. P., & Shulga, A. (2024) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.16539 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“…movement (Dawson et al., 2016; Redgrave et al., 2018) or 15-min stimulations (Bretherton et al., 2019) have been applied. aVNS has been tested in the treatment of depression (Tu et al., 2018), drug-resistant epilepsy (Yang et al., 2023), and for motor recovery after stroke (Redgrave et al., 2018).”
Zhang, Z.-Q., Guo, Z., Lv, X., Sörös, P., Wang, X.-X., Wang, L., & Liu, C. (2022) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050446 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Li, M., Ran, D., Yang, X., Wang, Y., Zhu, Q., Song, X., Shi, L., & Du, Y. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0303162 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Liu, X., Guo, Z., Cheng, J., Wei, F., & Zhang, J. (2024) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.07.007 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Vaishnavi, S., Leow, A., Nguyen, V., Meyer, C., Keleher, M. R., Leitschuh, C. M., & Carlton, T. (2025) · Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science · doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100572 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“…angular gyrus correlated with HAMD score improvement after ECT (100); decreased connectivity be-tween the medial hypothalamus and rostral ACC correlated with HAMD score improvement after tVNS (93); and a reduction in prefrontal alpha power correlated with HAMD score improvement after MST (47).”
Nayok, S. B., Sreeraj, V. S., Shivakumar, V., & Venkatasubramanian, G. (2023) · Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology · doi:10.25259/ijpp_401_2022 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Klaming, R., Harlé, K. M., Lerman, I. R., Norman, S. B., Strigo, I. A., Simmons, A. N., & Spadoni, A. D. (2025) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1016/j.neurom.2025.08.413 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Zhang, S., He, H., Li, X., & Guo, Y. (2025) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2025.1615635 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in the treatment of depression
Kong, J., Wilson, G., & Rong, P. (2021) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-817933-8.00031-1 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Lai, J., Liu, J. H., Zhang, L., Cao, J., Yang, H., Zhang, L., Fang, J., & Wang, X. T. (2025) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e42469 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“More recently, the efficacy of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (t-VNS) combined with electrical stimulation for major depressive disorder [8 – 10], primary insomnia [11], epilepsy [12,13] and mild cognitive impairment [14] has been objectively evaluated.”
Dong, S., Hao, F., Xue, B., Wu, S., Zhong, R., Liao, Z., Han, H., & Fang, X. (2025) · Food Science and Human Wellness · doi:10.26599/fshw.2024.9250201 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
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“Moreover, research by Tu et al. indicated that after four weeks of taVNS treatment, patients in the real stimulation group showed signi fi cantly lower scores on the HAMD scores compared to the sham group (54).”
Ji, T.-Z., Li, X. Z., Shen, J., Wang, W. Q., & Xie, L. (2026) · BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · doi:10.1186/s12884-026-09189-9 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Clinical studies have demonstrated that taVNS can improve depressive symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder and related conditions, with favorable safety and tolerability profiles [18, 19, 22].”
Opportunities and trends of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation
Chen, X., Zhang, Y., Guo, J., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Zhao, Y., Zou, N., Li, S., & Rong, P. (2024) · Gut Microbiota and Integrative Wellness · doi:10.54844/gmiw.2024.0519 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
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Robertson, R. V., Meylakh, N., Crawford, L. S., Sattarov, L., Mendoza, F. A. T., Macey, P. M., Macefield, V. G., Keay, K. A., & Henderson, L. A. (2025) · Imaging Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/imag.a.46 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“…of the hypothalamus such as medial, lateral, anterior, and posterior, although none had the spatial acuity to robustly target specific hypothalamic regions as we had done in this investigation ( Ferraro et al., 2018; Kullmann et al., 2014; Meylakh et al., 2020; Tu et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2018).”
Zhang, H., Xue, X., Mu, Z., Wang, C., Zheng, J., Wang, Z., Zhang, W., Gao, S., Zhang, W., Ren, A., et al. (2025) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115922 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
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Distribuição de vídeo sobre uma rede IEEE 802.11n
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Neurostimulation Tools and Approaches
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Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Neuromodulation: Evolution from Bench to Bedside
Vannemreddy, P. S. S. V., & Slavin, K. V. (2026) · Neurology International · doi:10.3390/neurolint18050094
“Similarly other authors also established the efficacy of VNS in refractory depression [39], along with fMRI documentation [40–43].”
- Authors
- Tu, Y., Fang, J., Cao, J., Wang, Z., Park, J., Jorgenson, K., Lang, C., Liu, J., Zhang, G., Zhao, Y., Zhu, B., Rong, P., & Kong, J.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Rong, Peijing
- Kong, Jian
- ORCID
- Venue
- Brain stimulation
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-05
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 501-508
- ISSN
- 1876-4754 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-861X
- PMC
- PMC5930128
- OpenAlex
- W2792997548
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 4.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Brain stimulation (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (Z161100002616003)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81471389, 81473780, 81303056, 81674072, 81774433)
- NIH/NCCIH (R01AT006364, R01AT008563, R21AT008707, R61AT009310, P01AT006663)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Vagus Nerve Stimulation Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Keywords
- transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation, major depressive disorder, functional connectivity, medial hypothalamus, rostral anterior cingulate cortex, treatment response biomarkers, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Brain, Major Depressive Disorder, Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Vagus Nerve, Biomarkers, Treatment Outcome, Vagus Nerve Stimulation, Young Adult
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