Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for GABAergic modulation through transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a relatively new technique (Ventureyra 2000), which was developed to pose an alternative to direct or invasive vagus nerve stimulation (iVNS) for the treatment of drug-refractory epilepsy, depression and other disorders (Hein et al. 2013; Lehtim äki et al. 2013; Bauer et al. 2016). In contrast to iVNS, where a stimulation lead is surgically wrapped around the vagus nerve in the neck, tVNS can be applied to different locations of the outer ear innervated by the auricular branch of the vagus nerve, mostly the cymba conchae or the tragus thro ugh electrodes attached to the skin (Kraus et al.
Source: Clinical Neurophysiology - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Source Type: research