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Effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on brain functional connectivity of medial prefrontal cortex in patients with primary insomnia |
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| Authors: | Shuai Zhang Jia-Kai He Hong Meng Bin Zhao Ya-Nan Zhao Yu Wang Shao-Yuan Li Lei Wang Mo-Zheng Wu Yu Chen Xue Xiao Li-Wei Hou Ji-Liang Fang Pei-Jing Rong |
| Institution: | 1. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China;2. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Contribution: Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (supporting), ?Investigation (lead), Methodology (supporting), Visualization (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal);3. Beijing Key Lab of Plant Resource Research and Development, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, China Contribution: Formal analysis (equal), Funding acquisition (equal), Validation (equal), Writing - review & editing (supporting);4. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangdong, China Contribution: Funding acquisition (equal), ?Investigation (supporting), Methodology (supporting), Writing - original draft (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting);5. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China Contribution: Formal analysis (supporting), ?Investigation (supporting), Visualization (supporting), Writing - original draft (supporting);6. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Methodology (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting);7. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China Contribution: Methodology (supporting), Writing - original draft (supporting);8. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China Contribution: Resources (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal);9. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China Contribution: Formal analysis (supporting), Visualization (supporting);10. Department of Psychiatry, Beijing First Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Beijing, China Contribution: Data curation (supporting), ?Investigation (supporting);11. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China Contribution: Methodology (supporting), Visualization (supporting);12. Guang 'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Funding acquisition (supporting), Methodology (supporting) |
| Abstract: | As a representative of acupuncture and nonpharmaceutical therapy, auricular acupuncture has been widely for the treatment of insomnia. Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a combination of auricular point stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation. It can not only treat primary insomnia effectively, but also is noninvasive, painless, portable and economical. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a core region of default mode network (DMN), which is important for maintenance of sleep. However, the mechanism of taVNS in alleviating primary insomnia (PI) remains to be clarified. In this study, we found that taVNS could not only effectively reduce the score of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, but also decreased functional connection (FC) between the left mPFC and bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus as well as FC between the right mPFC and the occipital cortex in patients with PI. Furthermore, the decrease in FC was positively correlated with the decline of sleep index score. Therefore, we proposed that treatment with taVNS can improve sleep quality and prolong sleep duration in patients with PI by reducing FC within DMN, FC between DMN and salience network, as well as FC between DMN and the occipital cortex. This may be one of mechanisms of taVNS in treating PI. |
| Keywords: | dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus medial prefrontal cortex primary insomnia resting functional magnetic resonance imaging transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation |