Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25182412›Full record

Trial reportJournal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996)2015

The effect of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on cortical excitability.

Fioravante Capone, Giovanni Assenza, Giovanni Di Pino, Gabriella Musumeci, Federico Ranieri, Lucia Florio, Carmen Barbato, Vincenzo Di Lazzaro

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
71citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
2.8field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

71 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 140 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Movement Disorders, from Principles to a Systematic Review of Evidence.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2025
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Antidepressant effect of vagal nerve stimulation in epilepsy patients: a systematic review.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020
    Pooled it
  7. Trial
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  9. Trial
  10. Left Vagus Stimulation Modulates Contralateral Subthalamic β Power Improving the Gait in Parkinson's Disease.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2024
    Trial
  11. Trial
  12. Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Facilitates Cortical Arousal and Alertness.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Trial
  13. Trial
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  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Review
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11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Fioravante CaponeInstitute of Neurology, Campus Bio-Medico University, Via Alvaro del Portillo 200, 00128, Rome, Italy, f.capone@unicampus.it.
Giovanni Assenza
Giovanni Di Pino
Gabriella Musumeci
Federico Ranieri
Lucia Florio
Carmen Barbato
Vincenzo Di Lazzaro
Università Campus Bio-Medico · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There is great interest about the therapeutic potentialities of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) applied to neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the mechanisms of action of tVNS and its impact on cortical excitability are unclear. To this regard, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be useful because it is able of evaluating non-invasively excitatory and inhibitory circuitry of the human cortex. Aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of tVNS on cerebral cortex excitability in healthy volunteers by means of TMS. Ten healthy subjects participated in this randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study. Real tVNS was administered at left external acoustic meatus, while sham stimulation was performed at left ear lobe, both of them for 60 min. We evaluated motor thresholds, motor evoked potential amplitude, recruitment curves, and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) in right and left motor cortex. Such parameters were evaluated before and 60 min after the exposure to tVNS, for both the real and the sham stimulation. Cardiovascular parameters were monitored during the stimulation. A generalized linear model for repeated measures was implemented to assess the effect of time and stimulation type on cardiovascular and neurophysiological variables. SICI, a double-pulse TMS paradigm informative of GABA-A activity, was significantly increased in right motor cortex after real tVNS. Other neurophysiological parameters, as well as cardiovascular variables, remained unchanged. Our findings confirm that tVNS is a safe and effective way to stimulate vagus nerve and provide innovative data about the possible mechanisms of action that supports the potential therapeutic application of this technique.

Indexed as

AdultBlood PressureDouble-Blind MethodEarEvoked Potentials, MotorFemaleHeart RateHumansLinear ModelsMaleMotor CortexMovementNeural InhibitionTime FactorsTranscranial Magnetic StimulationVagus Nerve Stimulation

Identifiers

PMID25182412
OpenAlexW2079610925

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.