Benefits of Using Peripheral Nerve Stimulation

               After listening to Dr. Chen’s talk about non-invasive peripheral nerve stimulation, I started to wonder about the possibilities for what could be done with this. I had read articles about stimulating different parts of the CNS to treat people with tremors, but I had rarely heard of peripheral nerve stimulation being used as such a versatile treatment.

(from nytimes.com)

               What I didn’t expect to come across though was an article from New York Times which discusses the findings of Dr. Kevin Tracey’s research lab at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. While Dr. Chen’s research focused on improving non-invasive peripheral nerve stimulation, Dr. Tracey’s goal was to find a link between the nervous system and the immune system. He did this by stimulating the vagus nerve in rats and observing whether or not there was an effect on the immune system’s processes. The vagus nerve was used due to previous research done in rats which had shown that when an anti-inflammatory drug is injected into the brain and the vagus nerve is cut, no effect of the drug is seen. In rat trials, he injected the rats with a tumor necrosis factor (a protein known to start inflammation) after stimulating their vagus nerve by way of surgery. The tumor necrosis factor was shown to be blocked by this stimulation, and in 2011, they started using this information in clinical trials to treat Rheumatoid Arthritis which is caused by inflammation in the joints.

               This finding opens new ways in which peripheral nerve stimulation can be used, the possibilities widely ranging from new treatments for cancer to treating infertility. Some major drawbacks about using invasive implantations though is that for one it’s invasive and requires surgery, but because it is often a wireless device, it can also be hacked by other people. This is a flaw that would be necessary to fix because of the risks there are if someone were to hack into another person’s implant. Another thing is that electrodes may not always be specific in what it is stimulating, and can have effects that are not wanted. Regardless, peripheral nerve stimulation is a fascinating therapy that has little to no side effects when compared to pharmaceuticals, which can affect the entire body rather than the precisely the target site. I find it incredible that by way of stimulating the vagus nerve, one can treat the immune system, which is not in one defined place in the body.

References:

Chen, C.C., & Lin, Y.L., & Chen, W.C., & Fregni, F.F. (2015). Contribution of corticospinal modulation and total electrical energy for peripheral-nerve-stimulation-induced neuroplasticity as indexed by additional muscular force. Elsevier. 9. 133-140. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2015.09.012

Behar, M.B. (2014). Can The nervous system be hacked?. The New York Times Company. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/can-the-nervous-system-be-hacked.html