The Vast Potential of the Vagus Nerve | Remote Counseling in Paterson

Some say a cure for ailments like anxiety is flowing from the brain. But much is unknown.

By Christina Caron

In recent years, the vagus nerve has become an object of fascination, especially on social media. The vagal nerve fibers, which run from the brain to the abdomen, have been anointed by some influencers as the key to reducing anxiety, regulating the nervous system, and helping the body to relax.

TikTok videos with the hashtag “#vagusnerve” have been viewed more than 64 million times, and there are nearly 70,000 posts with the hashtag on Instagram. Some of the most popular ones feature simple hacks to “tone” or “reset” the vagus nerve, in which people plunge their faces into ice water or lie on their backs with ice packs on their chests.

Now, wellness companies have capitalized on the trend, offering products like vagus massage oil, pillow mists, and vibrating bracelets. These products claim to stimulate the nerve, but they have not been endorsed by the scientific community.

Researchers who study the vagus nerve say that stimulating it with electrodes can potentially help improve mood and alleviate symptoms in those who suffer from treatment-resistant depression, among other ailments. But are there other ways to activate the vagus nerve? Who would benefit most from doing so? And what exactly is the vagus nerve, anyway? Here’s a look at what we know so far.

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Protein linked to brain rejuvenation | Biofeedback Treatments Engelwood

 Mouse studies hint at a way to treat age-related decline

A single molecule may play a central role in rejuvenating aging brains, albeit in multiple ways, new research suggests.

Studies in mice of three different techniques for combating the cognitive decline that accompanies aging found that they all increase levels of a protein called platelet factor four, or PF4. This in turn improved cognitive performance and biological signs of brain health, three research groups report August 16 in Nature Aging, Nature and Nature Communications.

“PF4 may be an effective factor, and this kind of work will help bring it toward a therapeutic agent” for age-related cognitive decline, says bioengineer Michael Conboy of the University of California, Berkeley, who wasn’t involved in the work.

One of the research groups, led by neuroscientist Dena Dubal of the University of California, San Francisco, was studying klotho, a hormone linked to longevity. Injecting the hormone into mice boosts cognition, but since klotho is too large to cross the blood-brain barrier, it must act on the brain indirectly via a messenger.To search for this intermediary, Dubal’s team injected mice with klotho and measured changes in the levels of six proteins in the blood. PF4 increased the most, the team reports in Nature Aging.

Platelets are known for their role in wound healing and clotting, and they release proteins — including PF4-called platelet factors into the blood. “My first reaction was, what do platelets have to do with cognitive enhancement? This is crazy,” Dubal says. Follow-up work in mice found that PF4 enhanced neural connections in the hippocampus, a region crucial for memory.

Another UC San Francisco team, led by neuroscientist Saul Villeda, had previously shown that blood plasma from young mice rejuvenates the brains of elderly mice. A look at how young plasma differs from old revealed that young plasma contains much more PF4, the team reports in Nature. Injecting PF4 into old mice returned the immune system to a more youthful state, lowering levels of inflammatory proteins and reducing inflammation in the brain.

Separately, neuroscientist Tara Walker, of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and colleagues found that exercise boosts PF4 in mice. Delivering PF4 directly to mice’s brains spurs new nerve cell growth in the hippocampus, the team reports in Nature Communications.

The new studies all show that PF4, on its own, improves cognition. More and more research is pointing toward a link between the immune system, cognitive decline and diseases like Alzheimer’s,” Villeda says.

The main limitation of these studies is that few findings in mice translate into safe and effective therapies in people. But in humans, as in mice, PF4 declines with age.

In July, Dubal and colleagues reported that klotho improves cognition in aging monkeys, whose brains are much more similar to ours. But whether that improvement involves PF4 is not known.

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Scientists make waves in awake brains | Biofeedback Ridgewood

Controlling spinal fluid might help treat neurological diseases.Waves of cerebrospinal fluid that normally wash over brains during sleep can be made to pulse in the brains of people who are wide awake, a new study finds.

Previous research has suggested that the clear fluid may flush out harmful waste, such as the sticky proteins that accumulate in Alzheimer’s disease (SN: 7/21/18, p. 22). So being able to control the fluid flow in the brain might have implications for treating certain brain disorders. I think this [finding] will help with many neurological disorders,” says Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the work. “Think of Formula One. You can have the best car and driver, but without a great maintenance crew, that driver will not win the race:’ Spinal fluid flow in the brain is a major part of that maintenance crew, Kipnis says. But he and other researchers, including the study’s authors, caution that any potential therapeutic applications are still far off.

I think this [finding] will help with many neurological disorders,” says Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the work. “Think of Formula One. You can have the best car and driver, but without a great maintenance crew, that driver will not win the race:’ Spinal fluid flow in the brain is a major part of that maintenance crew, Kipnis says. But he and other researchers, including the study’s authors, caution that any potential therapeutic applications are still far off.

In 2019, neuroscientist Laura Lewis of Boston University and colleagues reported that strong waves of cerebrospinal fluid wash through our brains while we slumber, suggesting that sleep may give the brain a deep clean (SN: 11/23/19, p.11). The slow neural oscillations that characterize deep, non-REM sleep occur in lockstep with the waves of spinal fluid, the team showed. These flows are far larger than the rhythmic influences that breathing and heartbeat have on spinal fluid.

As brain activity during sleep causes blood to flow through the brain, spinal fluid flows in behind the blood. Such fluid infusions clear out toxic proteins and maintain constant pressure in the skull, experiments in mice have shown.

In the new study, “the first question we wanted to answer is, can you manipulate [blood flow] enough to also drive [fluid] flow when someone’s awake?” says Stephanie Williams, a neuroscientist also at Boston University.

To stimulate blood flow in the brain, Williams, Lewis, and colleagues showed six healthy adults a flickering checkerboard pattern. A mix of techniques, including functional MRI and electrodes, confirmed that the intense stimulation affected blood flow in the brain and allowed the team to see the order of events.Neural activity increased when the flashing pattern was turned on, followed by increased blood flow. Cerebrospinal fluid flow was suppressed while blood flow increased, and then surged into the brain as blood flow ebbed when the stimulation stopped, the team reports March 30 in NOS Biology. Longer stimulation produced larger spinal fluid flows, suggesting it was possible to maximize the response.

The effect of brain activity on spinal fluid flow is separate from the influences of heartbeat and breathing, the team found. The brain has a way to control its own fluid flow; Lewis says.The team did not measure whether the waking flows cleared waste from the brain. However, previous studies in mice have found that certain audiovisual stimuli reduce levels of toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Testing of the technique in humans is underway.

“It’s a beautiful study, but wouldn’t draw therapeutic conclusions from this; says neurologist Steven Goldman of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. The brain’s fluid flow system is optimally set up for cleaning during sleep. “It would be more effective to just ensure a good night’s sleep; Goldman says. “Any manipulations over and above that would be best employed during sleep; Lewis’ team acknowledges that the induced flows were smaller than those seen during sleep. But the change in flow was still ‘pretty substantial; Lewis says. The technique could help scientists figure out how the process might be disrupted in diseases like Alzheimer’s, she says.

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