TY  - GEN
A1  - Giraudier, Manon
A1  - Ventura-Bort, Carlos
A1  - Burger, Andreas M.
A1  - Claes, Nathalie
A1  - D'Agostini, Martina
A1  - Fischer, Rico
A1  - Franssen, Mathijs
A1  - Kaess, Michael
A1  - Koenig, Julian
A1  - Liepelt, Roman
A1  - Nieuwenhuis, Sander
A1  - Sommer, Aldo
A1  - Usichenko, Taras
A1  - Van Diest, Ilse
A1  - von Leupoldt, Andreas
A1  - Warren, Christopher Michael
A1  - Weymar, Mathias
T1  - Evidence for a modulating effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on salivary alpha-amylase as indirect noradrenergic marker: A pooled mega-analysis
T2  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - Background
Non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has received tremendous attention as a potential neuromodulator of cognitive and affective functions, which likely exerts its effects via activation of the locus coeruleus-noradrenaline (LC-NA) system. Reliable effects of taVNS on markers of LC-NA system activity, however, have not been demonstrated yet.

Methods
The aim of the present study was to overcome previous limitations by pooling raw data from a large sample of ten taVNS studies (371 healthy participants) that collected salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) as a potential marker of central NA release.

Results
While a meta-analytic approach using summary statistics did not yield any significant effects, linear mixed model analyses showed that afferent stimulation of the vagus nerve via taVNS increased sAA levels compared to sham stimulation (b = 0.16, SE = 0.05, p = 0.001). When considering potential confounders of sAA, we further replicated previous findings on the diurnal trajectory of sAA activity.

Conclusion(s)
Vagal activation via taVNS increases sAA release compared to sham stimulation, which likely substantiates the assumption that taVNS triggers NA release. Moreover, our results highlight the benefits of data pooling and data sharing in order to allow stronger conclusions in research.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 808 
KW  - Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation
KW  - tVNS
KW  - sAA
KW  - Noradrenaline
KW  - Biomarker
KW  - Data pooling
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-577668
SN  - 1866-8364
IS  - 808
SP  - 1378
EP  - 1388
ER  -