Research on vagus nerve stimulation, inflammation, and neural plasticity

Historical article, originally published in 2024. Clinical and experimental vagus nerve stimulation research discussed here is not evidence that EVANES treats disease. EVANES is a non-medical wellness device, not a substitute for medical care or prescribed medication.

As the vagal system with the vagus nerve in front is responsible for parasympathetic activity, neuromodulation via VNS is being studied in stressful and stress-associated conditions. In addition to alleviating stress, VNS has been shown to have a powerful anti-inflammatory effect (Tracey 2018)* and ability to enhance neuronal plasticity (Engineer et al 2011; Kilgard et al 2012).

References:

Tracey, K. J. (2018). Neurons are the inflammatory problem. Cell 173, 1066–1068.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.05.005

Engineer, N. D., Riley, J. R., Seale, J. D., Vrana, W. A., Shetake, H. A., Sudanagunta, S. P., et al. (2011). Reversing pathological neural activity using targeted plasticity. Nature 470, 101–106.

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09656

Kilgard, M. P. (2012). Harnessing plasticity to understand learning and treat disease. Trends Neurosci. 35, 715–722.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2012.09.002