Effect of Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation on Reducing Visually Induced Motion Sickness in Healthy Volunteers

Overview

Nausea is a common and distressing experience that often precedes vomiting. Amongst symptoms emanating from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract nausea can be considered somewhat unique, as on one hand it represents a normal, highly conserved, physiological response to an ingested toxin yet on the other it may indicate pathology. Nausea may also arise as a consequence of pharmaco- and chemotherapeutic interventions. Nausea negatively impacts on quality of life, adherence to treatment and is a cause for discontinuation of the development of novel compounds. Experimentally, nausea can be induced in humans using a visually induced motion stimulus. Previously we have developed a 10-minute motion video of the landscape rotating as seen from the perspective of a subject standing on Westminster Bridge, London. The tilted and rotating view visual display makes the subject perceive that they are spinning round and round on a spot tilted away from centre of gravity due to circular vection. This motion video induced nausea in approximately 50% of healthy participants and caused a reduction in cardiac vagal tone, a validated measure of the parasympathetic nervous system branch on the autonomic nervous system. We therefore are evaluating the role of external transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation in visually induced motion sickness.

Conditions