Investigating the effects of transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation on motor cortex excitability and inhibition through paired-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve stimulation (tVNS) has been proposed as a prospective treatment for clinical conditions with altered GABAergic transmission. While possible effects of tVNS on behavioral performance in inhibitory control tasks have been previously reported, neurophysiological evidence showing its effects on GABA-mediated inhibition in the motor cortex is limited. Concurrently, the possible influence of participant’s gender and state conditions remains unexplored. Here, we applied, single- and paired-pulse TMS to the right or the left primary motor in two different groups of participants. We measured corticospinal excitability (CSE), short and long intracortical inhibition (SICI and LICI), cortical silent period (cSP) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) indexes. The measures were taken, in separated sessions of a within-subject design, at baseline prior to tVNS and after delivering active and sham tVNS in the Cymba conchae of the left ear. To exploit state dependent effects and assess the role of tVNS in motor learning, tVNS was applied, during the execution of a computerized visuomotor task. In the left TMS group, we observed better visuomotor performance during active than sham tVNS, regardless of participant’s gender. Interestingly, in both groups, we found a specific increase of SICI, which is mediated by GABAa activity, after active compared to sham-tVNS and baseline evaluations, which was specifically limited to female participants. No effects on CSE, ICF or GABAb-mediated intracortical inhibition indexes were observed. The results show specific effects of tVNS on motor learning and GABAa-mediated motor inhibition, providing supportive evidence for the application of tVNS as an alternative and coadjuvant treatment for disorders featured by altered inhibition mechanisms.