Trial reportPloS one2019
Noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation alters neural response and physiological autonomic tone to noxious thermal challenge.
Trial report in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06294509 (Feasibility and Effects of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Timings in a Sensorimotor Task), which is not on this map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Feasibility and Effects of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Timings in a Sensorimotor Task
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Survivor, family and professional experiences of psychosocial interventions for sexual abuse and violence: a qualitative evidence synthesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- The potential for autonomic neuromodulation to reduce perioperative complications and pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.British journal of anaesthesia · 2022Pooled it
- Home-based respiratory-gated transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for rheumatoid arthritis-a feasibility study.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Trial
- Noninvasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation Reduces Withdrawal-Related Affective Distress and Improves Functional Outcomes in Alcohol Use Disorder: A Feasibility and Acceptability Pilot Study.Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society · 2025Trial
- Digital Cardiovascular Biomarker Responses to Transcutaneous Cervical Vagus Nerve Stimulation: State-Space Modeling, Prediction, and Simulation.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Trial
- Non-invasive vagal nerve stimulation decreases brain activity during trauma scripts.Brain stimulationTrial
- Quantifying acute physiological biomarkers of transcutaneous cervical vagal nerve stimulation in the context of psychological stress.Brain stimulationTrial
- Effects of intranasal long-acting insulin pretreatment on postoperative delirium and the NLRP3/caspase-1/IL-1β pathway in older patients with esophageal cancer.Inflammation and regeneration · 2026Article
- A Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Disease: Comprehensive Theory and Evidence for Mechanisms of Action.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- A pilot study of brain correlates of long-term treatment with transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation in posttraumatic stress disorder.Journal of affective disorders reports · 2026Article
- Next generation bioelectronic medicine: making the case for non-invasive closed-loop autonomic neuromodulation.Bioelectronic medicine · 2025Review
- Interoception: Synthesizing Insights and Charting New Frontiers.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation in anti-inflammatory therapy: mechanistic insights and future perspectives.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Effect of touch on proprioception: non-invasive trigeminal nerve stimulation suggests general arousal rather than tactile-proprioceptive integration.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Non-Pharmacological Treatment for Chronic Migraine.Current pain and headache reports · 2023Review
- Psychosocial interventions for survivors of rape and sexual assault experienced during adulthood.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Review
- Effects of Non-Invasive Neuromodulation of the Vagus Nerve for the Management of Cluster Headache: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Insula-cingulate structural and functional connectivity: an ultra-high field MRI study.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Management of auricular transcutaneous neuromodulation and electro-acupuncture of the vagus nerve for chronic migraine: a systematic review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- The role of the brainstem in sleep disturbances and chronic pain of Gulf War and Iraq/Afghanistan veterans.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The mechanisms by which noninvasive vagal nerve stimulation (nVNS) affect central and peripheral neural circuits that subserve pain and autonomic physiology are not clear, and thus remain an area of intense investigation. Effects of nVNS vs sham stimulation on subject responses to five noxious thermal stimuli (applied to left lower extremity), were measured in 30 healthy subjects (n = 15 sham and n = 15 nVNS), with fMRI and physiological galvanic skin response (GSR). With repeated noxious thermal stimuli a group × time analysis showed a significantly (p < .001) decreased response with nVNS in bilateral primary and secondary somatosensory cortices (SI and SII), left dorsoposterior insular cortex, bilateral paracentral lobule, bilateral medial dorsal thalamus, right anterior cingulate cortex, and right orbitofrontal cortex. A group × time × GSR analysis showed a significantly decreased response in the nVNS group (p < .0005) bilaterally in SI, lower and mid medullary brainstem, and inferior occipital cortex. Finally, nVNS treatment showed decreased activity in pronociceptive brainstem nuclei (e.g. the reticular nucleus and rostral ventromedial medulla) and key autonomic integration nuclei (e.g. the rostroventrolateral medulla, nucleus ambiguous, and dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve). In aggregate, noninvasive vagal nerve stimulation reduced the physiological response to noxious thermal stimuli and impacted neural circuits important for pain processing and autonomic output.
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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.