Beschreibung:
<jats:title>New findings</jats:title><jats:p><jats:list list-type="explicit-label">
<jats:list-item><jats:p><jats:bold>What is the topic for this review?</jats:bold></jats:p><jats:p>Vagus nerve stimulation is now used as a treatment for refractory epilepsy and depression, despite an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms involved.</jats:p></jats:list-item>
<jats:list-item><jats:p><jats:bold>What advances does it highlight?</jats:bold></jats:p><jats:p>We review current and potential therapeutic applications of vagus nerve stimulation and some potential mechanisms by which these effects could be mediated.</jats:p></jats:list-item>
</jats:list></jats:p><jats:p>Vagus is Latin for wandering, and the vagus nerve fully deserves this name due to its extensive distribution through the body. Indeed, one of the lines of the song that accompanied the 2012 G. L. Brown Prize Lecture exaggerates this diversity, ‘My function's almost anythin’, and vagus is my name’. Alteration of vagal activity was first investigated in the 1880s as a treatment for epilepsy, and vagus nerve stimulation is now an approved treatment for refractory epilepsy and depression in the USA, despite an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms involved. Vagus nerve stimulation could be beneficial in many other conditions, including heart failure, tinnitus, chronic hiccups, Alzheimer's disease and inflammatory diseases. Inhibition of vagal activity could also be beneficial in some conditions, e.g. reducing activation of vagal respiratory afferents to treat chronic cough. This review discusses evidence underlying some current and potential therapeutic applications of vagal modulation, illustrating the wonders of the Wanderer.</jats:p>