Instant modulatory effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in patients with Parkinson disease.

Motivation: A growing body of evidence suggests that taVNS may improve the motor function of PD patients whereas little is known about the neuropathologic mechanism. Goal(s): To explore the potential mechanism of taVNS in treating PD by rs-fMRI. Approach: Fifty patients with PD underwent three times fMRI scanning. And the difference in ALFF among the baeline state,real taVNS and sham taVNS state were investigated. Results: Compared with baseline and sham taVNS state, the ALFF value showed a significant decrease in 5 clusters. Pearson correlation analysis indicated ALFF of SPL_r in real taVNS condition was negatively correlated with the total UPDRS score, UPDRS-Ⅲscore and PDQ. Impact: The taVNS may produce treatment effects by modulating the abnormal ALFF of sensorimotor network,salience network and visual network. This may shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying taVNS treatment of PD.