Effect of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (taVNS) on Plasma Insulin Levels
Indiana University
Summary
The purpose of this study is to find out if investigators can stimulate the vagus nerve (a nerve in the body that runs from your brain to the large intestine), and influence insulin, C-peptide, and glucose levels. C-peptide is a substance that is created when insulin is produced and released into the body. The vagus nerve is a largely internal nerve that controls many bodily functions, including stomach function. Investigators hope that by stimulating the vagal nerve using the TeNS behind the ear, this stimulation can affect insulin levels, and this will help innovate treatment of patients with nausea, vomiting, and disordered stomach function, and patients with diabetes. Researchers hope to be able to measure the activity of the vagus nerve when it is stimulated in other ways. This could help investigators learn more about studying this nerve in the future.
Description
STUDY OBJECTIVES Primary: The research described in this protocol is best described as an extension of the researcher's current protocol which is designed to measure cervical compound vagal nerve action potentials in patients who have an implanted gastric electrical stimulation device (GESD). The difference is that only healthy volunteer subjects will be recruited and studied, and rather than undergoing gastric electrical stimulation (GES), volunteer subjects will undergo transcutaneous stimulation of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (taVNS) to determine whether this modality will also…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–70 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Healthy Volunteers * Aged 18-70 * Willing to have ECG electrodes placed on their neck and chest areas. * Willing to have electrodes placed in the external ear. * Willing to have an indwelling catheter placed to avoid multiple sticks for blood draw. Exclusion Criteria: * Unable to provide consent. * Diabetes diagnosis per patient report * Having known allergies to adhesive on electrode pads or bandages * Having gastric motility issues as determined by the PI or clinical coordinator. * Taking any medications that may affect gastric motility or cardiac variability, i.e. a…
Interventions
- DeviceTranscutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation
Healthy adult participants will be assigned to either the stimulation group or the sham group. The stimulation group will receive mild stimulation from the TeNS device and the sham group will receive no stimulation but will believe that they are receiving stimulus.
Location
- Indiana University HospitalIndianapolis, Indiana