ReviewBrain stimulation
How to fail with paired VNS therapy.
Review in Brain stimulation. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Two decades of vagus nerve stimulation for stroke: a bibliometric analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in stroke rehabilitation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.Frontiers in neurologyPooled it
- Trial
- Electroceutical enhancement of self-compassion training using transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation: results from a preregistered fully factorial randomized controlled trial.Psychological medicine · 2025Trial
- Trial
- [Research progress on the neuromodulation targets in stroke rehabilitation].Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi · 2026Review
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Neuromodulation: Evolution from Bench to Bedside.Neurology international · 2026Article
- Peripheral nerve-mediated glucose lowering: Mechanisms, translational strategies, and future perspectives.World journal of diabetes · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation (tcVNS) does not enhance learning and memory performance in a visual detection task.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- 30 Hz Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Alleviates Abdominal Pain by Modulating EEG Activity in the α Frequency Band of the Brain.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Article
- Enhancing Neuroplasticity via vagus nerve stimulation to improve urinary dysfunction after spinal cord injury: a perspective.Bioelectronic medicine · 2025Review
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Stroke Management: Brief Review of Evolution and Present Applications Paired with Rehabilitation.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Advice for translational neuroscience: move deliberately and build things.Bioelectronic medicine · 2025Article
- Vagus nerve stimulation for stroke rehabilitation: Neural substrates, neuromodulatory effects and therapeutic implications.The Journal of physiology · 2025Review
- Three Hundred Hertz Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (taVNS) Impacts Pupil Size Non-Linearly as a Function of Intensity.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Vagus nerve stimulation for chronic pain management: Mechanisms and clinical advances.Journal of biological methods · 2025Review
- Vagus nerve stimulation as a predictive coding modulator that enhances feedforward over feedback transmission.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2025Review
- tVNS alters inflammatory response in adult VPA-induced mouse model of autism: evidence for sexual dimorphism.FEBS open bio · 2025Article
- Vagus nerve stimulation during training fails to improve learning in healthy rats.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation enhances short-latency afferent inhibition via central cholinergic system activation.Scientific reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has gained enormous traction as a promising bioelectronic therapy. In particular, the delivery of VNS paired with training to promote neural changes has demonstrated clinical success for stroke recovery and found far-reaching application in other domains, from autism to psychiatric disorders to normal learning. The success of paired VNS has been extensively documented. Here, we consider a more unusual question: why does VNS have such broad utility, and perhaps more importantly, when does VNS not work? We present a discussion of the concepts that underlie VNS therapy and an anthology of studies that describe conditions in which these concepts are violated and VNS fails. We focus specifically on the mechanisms engaged by implanted VNS, and how the parameters of stimulation, stimulation method, pharmacological manipulations, accompanying comorbidities, and specifics of concurrent training interact with these mechanisms to impact the efficacy of VNS therapy. As paired VNS therapy is increasing translated to clinical implementation, a clear understanding of the conditions in which it does, and critically, does not work is fundamental to the success of this approach.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.