BACKGROUND: A recent meta-analysis revealed that vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV; a biomarker of emotion regulation capacity) significantly decreases in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. As two follow-up studies suggest, these vmHRV decreases are driven primarily by increased luteal progesterone (P4). However, analyses also re...
Exaggerated airway constriction triggered by repeated exposure to allergen, also called hyperreactivity, is a hallmark of asthma. Whereas vagal sensory neurons are known to function in allergen-induced hyperreactivity1-3, the identity of downstream nodes remains poorly understood. Here we mapped a full allergen circuit from the lung to the brainste...
SIGNIFICANCE: Information about the spatial organization of fibers within a nerve is crucial to our understanding of nerve anatomy and its response to neuromodulation therapies. A serial block-face microscopy method [three-dimensional microscopy with ultraviolet surface excitation (3D-MUSE)] has been developed to image nerves over extended depths e...
Peptide YY (PYY3-36) is a post-prandially released gut hormone with potent appetite-reducing activity, the mechanism of action of which is not fully understood. Unravelling how this system physiologically regulates food intake may help unlock its therapeutic potential, whilst minimising unwanted effects. Here we demonstrate that germline and post-n...
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have traditionally been used for image analysis and computer vision and are known for their ability to detect complex patterns in data. This report studies an application of CNNs within bioelectronic medicine, namely predicting blood glucose levels using nerve signals. Nerve signals and blood glucose levels were...
Objective. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), which involves a surgical procedure to place electrodes directly on the vagus nerve (VN), is approved clinically for the treatment of epilepsy, depression, and to facilitate rehabilitation in stroke. VNS at surgically implanted electrodes is often limited by activation of motor nerve fibers near and within ...
Impairments in cardiac vagal control (CVC) have been independently linked to smoking status and depression and are implicated in self-regulatory processes that may exacerbate depressive symptoms and maintain smoking behavior. Yet, few studies have examined how depressive symptoms, even at low levels, influence CVC reactivity among individuals who s...
Objective.This study aims to develop a comprehensive decoding framework to create a multivariate physiological model of vagus nerve transmission that reveals the complex interactions between the nervous and metabolic systems.Approach.Vagus nerve activity was recorded in female Sprague-Dawley rats using gold hook microwires implanted around the left...
Slow paced breathing via heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback stimulates vagus-nerve pathways that counter noradrenergic stress and arousal pathways that can influence production and clearance of Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related proteins. Thus, we examined whether HRV biofeedback intervention affects plasma Αβ40, Αβ42, total tau (tTau), and pho...
Identifying factors that influence how individuals who smoke cigarettes respond to stress is important as stress is a risk factor for smoking and its maintenance. This study examined the modulatory role of cardiac vagal control (CVC), a physiological correlate of self-regulation, on cognitive stress appraisal processes of adults who smoke. Sixty da...
