ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2018
Vagal afferent activation suppresses systemic inflammation via the splanchnic anti-inflammatory pathway.
Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 136 citations in OpenAlex.
- The heart knows best: baseline heart rate variability as guide to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in depression.Translational psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation has no anti-inflammatory effect in diabetes.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy and Impaired Inflammatory Reflex.Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism · 2026Review
- The carotid body in sepsis: From homeostatic defense to immunometabolic dysregulation.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Review
- Neural modulation of ocular immunity: Exploring a sympathetic-macrophage neuroimmune link in the human ciliary body.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Vagal Afferent Stimulation Attenuates LPS-Induced Acute Lung Inflammation in Association with Reduced Spleen Weight and Increased CellTrace-Positive Signals in the Lung.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Aortic baroreceptor afferents as sensors for systemic inflammation.Basic research in cardiology · 2026Article
- Understanding neuroinflammation in post-COVID-19 syndrome: biological mechanisms, diagnostic biomarkers, and therapeutic prospects.Translational psychiatry · 2026Review
- NodoMap: A single-cell and spatial transcriptomic atlas of the mouse nodose ganglion.Cell press blue · 2026Article
- Vagal neuropathies: An underrecognized potential driver of physical, mental, and immune symptoms.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Review
- Neurovascular and synaptic milieu of brain-resident cells in cognitive dysfunction of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- The neuroimmune axis in cardiovascular disease: from immune activation to inflammatory resolution.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Without getting under your skin: non-invasive stimulation activates the vagus nerve.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Sleep Disorders: Emerging Evidence and Future Directions.Nature and science of sleep · 2026Review
- Vagus nerve stimulation alleviates S. aureus-induced mastitis by regulating gut microbiota S24-7-PPARγ and NF-ΚB/NLRP3 signaling in mice.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Neuroimmune Control of Inflammation in Acute Kidney Injury and Multiorgan Dysfunction.Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN · 2025Review
- The sympathetic nervous system enhances host immune responses to enteric bacterial pathogens in mice.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Dysregulated neural coding in the vagus nerve during long sepsis.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Inhibition of acute lung inflammation by a neuroimmune circuit induced by vagal nerve stimulation.Science advances · 2025Article
- Autonomic Nervous System in Bone Remodeling: From Mechanisms to Novel Therapies in Orthopedic Diseases.Orthopaedic surgery · 2025Review
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve (VNS) is a novel strategy used to treat inflammatory conditions. Therapeutic VNS activates both efferent and afferent fibers; however, the effects attributable to vagal afferent stimulation are unclear. Here, we tested if selective activation of afferent fibers in the abdominal vagus suppresses systemic inflammation. In urethane-anesthetized rats challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 60 µg/kg, i.v.), abdominal afferent VNS (2 Hz for 20 min) reduced plasma tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) levels 90 min later by 88% compared with unmanipulated animals. Pre-cutting the cervical vagi blocked this anti-inflammatory action. Interestingly, the surgical procedure to expose and prepare the abdominal vagus for afferent stimulation ('vagal manipulation') also had an anti-inflammatory action. Levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 were inversely related to those of TNF. Prior bilateral section of the splanchnic sympathetic nerves reversed the anti-inflammatory actions of afferent VNS and vagal manipulation. Sympathetic efferent activity in the splanchnic nerve was shown to respond reflexly to abdominal vagal afferent stimulation. These data demonstrate that experimentally activating abdominal vagal afferent fibers suppresses systemic inflammation, and that the efferent neural pathway for this action is in the splanchnic sympathetic nerves.
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Registered trials
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.