Objectives: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), along with noninvasive transcutaneous auricular VNS (taVNS), has been the focus of considerable research across numerous indications. However, although invasive VNS literature has explored ways stimulation amplitude influences both physiologic and behavioral outcomes, there is a less robust understanding of taVNS parameter-specific effects on central nervous system activity. The focus of this study was to better understand neurophysiologic responses to multiple taVNS intensities to inform future taVNS work with therapeutic applications.
Materials and methods: We recorded stereotactic electroencephalography signals from ten patients (six male) with intractable epilepsy (N = 8 included for analysis, four male) while they underwent both active and sham taVNS. Both active and sham stimulation conditions were administered at 30-Hz frequency, 250-μs pulse width, 30-second train with 1-second intertrain interval, for a total duration of 1 minute. Active taVNS amplitudes included 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 mA whereas sham taVNS was administered at 1.5 mA. High gamma power between 95 and 170 Hz was quantified as the primary indicator of local activity.
Results: High gamma activity was amplitude-dependent, with different taVNS amplitudes producing distinct effects. Active taVNS at 1.0- and 1.5-mA amplitudes caused increased high gamma activity. Furthermore, the increases in high gamma in the orbitofrontal cortex and insula were maintained for significantly greater durations during 1.5-mA active taVNS than during sham. In addition, 0.5-mA stimulation led to moderate suppression of high gamma in certain regions, although further research is needed to investigate brain responses to subthreshold stimulation.
Conclusions: taVNS administered at 1.5-mA amplitude can elicit a sustained high gamma response throughout the course of stimulation in key brain areas implicated in the vagal afferent pathway. Our findings underscore the importance of parameter selection in taVNS protocols given different amplitudes can produce varied effects on brain activity.
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