A distinct biomarker of continuous transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation treatment in major depressive disorder.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Major depression is the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide and poses a socioeconomic burden worldwide. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a promising noninvasive clinical device that may reduce the severity of major depression. However, the neural mechanism underlying continuous tVNS has not yet been elucidated.

Objective

We aimed to explore the effect of hypothalamic subregion functional connectivity (FC) changes during continuous tVNS treatment on major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and to identify the potential biomarkers for treatment outcomes.

Methods

Forty-one mild to moderate MDD patients were recruited and received either real or sham tVNS treatment for 4 weeks. We used a seed-to-whole brain approach to estimate the FC c

SUBMITTER: Tu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5930128 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May - Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature