ReviewFrontiers in immunology2026
Efficacy and mechanisms of vagus nerve stimulation in irritable bowel syndrome: a comprehensive literature review.
Review in Frontiers in immunology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Vagus nerve-driven microbiota homeostasis: a promising integrative add-on therapy for neurodevelopmental disorders.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common non-organic functional gastrointestinal disorder. Recently, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of IBS. This review provided an overview of the mechanisms of VNS in IBS and clinical applications. Studies about VNS in the treatment of IBS were systematically retrieved from PubMed, EMbase and CNKI databases. Mechanically, pre-clinical evidence highlights VNS as a multifaceted therapy for IBS, including reducing inflammation via α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-mediated suppression of TNF-α, alleviating visceral hypersensitivity, increasing colorectal distension thresholds, enhancing motility through M3 receptor activation and gastric emptying, restoring gut microbiota diversity via elevating bifidobacterium abundance and short-chain fatty acids, and improving intestinal barrier integrity. Consistent with its mechanism, the reduced inflammation biomarkers, improved metabolism content, increased genus bifidobacterium, and improved intestinal barrier integrity are confirmed in clinical patients with IBS after VNS therapy. Besides, clinical studies reveal that VNS can increase the complete spontaneous bowel movements per week, decrease the visual analog scale for abdominal pain and IBS symptom score, improve rectoanal inhibitory reflex, rectal sensation, and improve sustained quality of life. In summary, noninvasive VNS is an effective and novel therapy option for patients with IBS, and its integrative effects are multi-factorial.
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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.