ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2025
Task-specific cortical mechanisms of taVNS-paired task-oriented training for post-stroke upper extremity dysfunction under cognitive load: an fNIRS study.
Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation During Motor Activity in Healthy Volunteers: A High-Density Diffuse Optical Tomography Study.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation: mechanisms, applications, and research progress.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation during semantic verbal fluency tasks: a high-density diffuse optical tomography study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Efficacy of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in treating patients with post-stroke motor disorders: a prospective study.Frontiers in neurologyArticle
- Therapeutic potential of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in cognitive impairment: insights from preclinical and clinical studies.Frontiers in neurologyReview
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the cortical task-specific response patterns underlying the improvement of upper limb dysfunction in stroke patients using transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) paired with task-oriented training (TOT) under varying cognitive loads. Methods: In this randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled trial, 30 patients with subacute stroke were enrolled and randomly assigned to either the taVNS group or the Sham group. Both groups received 3 weeks of TOT. The taVNS group received concurrent active taVNS, while the Sham group received concurrent sham stimulation. Assessments were performed pre- and post-intervention. Clinical function was evaluated using the Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and Modified Barthel Index (MBI). Neurophysiological measures included heart rate variability (HRV) to assess taVNS efficacy and motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) to assess cortical excitability changes. Brain functional imaging was conducted using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during motor tasks with different cognitive loads (low-load: continuous horizontal movement; high-load: goal-directed movement) to analyze changes in spontaneous neural activity, task-related regional brain activation characteristics, and brain functional network alterations. Results: (1) Post-intervention, the taVNS group showed significantly greater improvements in all HRV indices compared to the Sham group ( Conclusion: taVNS paired with TOT enhances autonomic homeostasis, increases corticospinal pathway excitability, activates cognition-motor related brain regions, and modulates functional connectivity networks through multi-pathway neuroregulatory mechanisms. This promotes the formation of task-specific cortical activation and network connectivity during motor tasks under varying cognitive demands in stroke patients. These changes contribute to improved executive control performance in complex tasks, thereby enhancing cognitive-motor integration capabilities and facilitating upper limb functional recovery. Clinical Trial Registration: https://www.chictr.org.cn/index.html, Unique Identifier/Registration Number: ChiCTR2400085163.
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