The strange case of the ear and the heart: The auricular vagus nerve and its influence on cardiac control

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• 作者：Aaron R. Murray^a ; ¹ ; Lucy Atkinson^a ; ¹ ; Mohd K. Mahadi^a ; ^b ; Susan A. Deuchars^a ; Jim Deuchars^a ; ^{J.Deuchars@leeds.ac.uk" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author}
• 关键词：Vagus ; Heart ; Autonomic ; Auricular ; Sympathetic ; Vagus nerve stimulation
• 刊名：Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：August 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：199
• 期：Complete
• 页码：48-53
• 全文大小：542 K

文摘

The human ear seems an unlikely candidate for therapies aimed at improving cardiac function, but the ear and the heart share a common connection: the vagus nerve. In recent years there has been increasing interest in the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (ABVN), a unique cutaneous subdivision of the vagus distributed to the external ear. Non-invasive electrical stimulation of this nerve through the skin may offer a simple, cost-effective alternative to the established method of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), which requires a surgical procedure and has generated mixed results in a number of clinical trials for heart failure. This review discusses the available evidence in support of modulating cardiac activity using this strange auricular nerve.