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Fascicles split or merge every ∼560 microns within the human cervical vagus nerve.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Upadhye, AR; Kolluru, C; Druschel, L; Al Lababidi, L; Ahmad, SS; Menendez, DM; Buyukcelik, ON; Settell, ML; Blanz, SL; Jenkins, MW; Wilson, DL ...
Published in: Journal of neural engineering
November 2022

Objective.Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is Food and Drug Administration-approved for epilepsy, depression, and obesity, and stroke rehabilitation; however, the morphological anatomy of the vagus nerve targeted by stimulatation is poorly understood. Here, we used microCT to quantify the fascicular structure and neuroanatomy of human cervical vagus nerves (cVNs).Approach.We collected eight mid-cVN specimens from five fixed cadavers (three left nerves, five right nerves). Analysis focused on the 'surgical window': 5 cm of length, centered around the VNS implant location. Tissue was stained with osmium tetroxide, embedded in paraffin, and imaged on a microCT scanner. We visualized and quantified the merging and splitting of fascicles, and report a morphometric analysis of fascicles: count, diameter, and area.Main results.In our sample of human cVNs, a fascicle split or merge event was observed every ∼560µm (17.8 ± 6.1 events cm-1). Mean morphological outcomes included: fascicle count (6.6 ± 2.8 fascicles; range 1-15), fascicle diameter (514 ± 142µm; range 147-1360µm), and total cross-sectional fascicular area (1.32 ± 0.41 mm2; range 0.58-2.27 mm).Significance.The high degree of fascicular splitting and merging, along with wide range in key fascicular morphological parameters across humans may help to explain the clinical heterogeneity in patient responses to VNS. These data will enable modeling and experimental efforts to determine the clinical effect size of such variation. These data will also enable efforts to design improved VNS electrodes.

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Published In

Journal of neural engineering

DOI

EISSN

1741-2552

ISSN

1741-2560

Publication Date

November 2022

Volume

19

Issue

5

Related Subject Headings

  • Vagus Nerve Stimulation
  • Vagus Nerve
  • Humans
  • Epilepsy
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Cadaver
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • 4003 Biomedical engineering
  • 3209 Neurosciences
  • 1109 Neurosciences
 

Citation

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Upadhye, A. R., Kolluru, C., Druschel, L., Al Lababidi, L., Ahmad, S. S., Menendez, D. M., … Shoffstall, A. J. (2022). Fascicles split or merge every ∼560 microns within the human cervical vagus nerve. Journal of Neural Engineering, 19(5). https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/ac9643
Upadhye, Aniruddha R., Chaitanya Kolluru, Lindsey Druschel, Luna Al Lababidi, Sami S. Ahmad, Dhariyat M. Menendez, Ozge N. Buyukcelik, et al. “Fascicles split or merge every ∼560 microns within the human cervical vagus nerve.Journal of Neural Engineering 19, no. 5 (November 2022). https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/ac9643.
Upadhye AR, Kolluru C, Druschel L, Al Lababidi L, Ahmad SS, Menendez DM, et al. Fascicles split or merge every ∼560 microns within the human cervical vagus nerve. Journal of neural engineering. 2022 Nov;19(5).
Upadhye, Aniruddha R., et al. “Fascicles split or merge every ∼560 microns within the human cervical vagus nerve.Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 19, no. 5, Nov. 2022. Epmc, doi:10.1088/1741-2552/ac9643.
Upadhye AR, Kolluru C, Druschel L, Al Lababidi L, Ahmad SS, Menendez DM, Buyukcelik ON, Settell ML, Blanz SL, Jenkins MW, Wilson DL, Zhang J, Tatsuoka C, Grill WM, Pelot NA, Ludwig KA, Gustafson KJ, Shoffstall AJ. Fascicles split or merge every ∼560 microns within the human cervical vagus nerve. Journal of neural engineering. 2022 Nov;19(5).
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of neural engineering

DOI

EISSN

1741-2552

ISSN

1741-2560

Publication Date

November 2022

Volume

19

Issue

5

Related Subject Headings

  • Vagus Nerve Stimulation
  • Vagus Nerve
  • Humans
  • Epilepsy
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Cadaver
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • 4003 Biomedical engineering
  • 3209 Neurosciences
  • 1109 Neurosciences