Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a relapsing–remitting condition characterized by excessive and/or continued alcohol consumption despite harmful consequences. New adjuvant tools, such as noninvasive brain stimulation techniques, might be helpful additions to conventional treatment approaches or even provide an alternative option for patients who fail to respond adequately to other treatment options. Here, we discuss the potential use of auricular transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (atVNS) as an ADD-ON intervention in AUD. Compared with other techniques, atVNS has the advantage of directly stimulating nuclei that synthesize GABA and catecholamines, both of which are functionally altered by alcohol intake in AUD patients. Pharmacological options targeting those neurotransmitters are widely available, but have relatively limited beneficial effects on cognition, even though restoring normal cognitive functioning, especially cognitive control, is key to maintaining abstinence. Against this background, atVNS could be a particularly useful add-on because there is substantial meta-analytic evidence based on studies in healthy individuals that atVNS can enhance cognitive control processes that are crucial to regaining control over drug intake. We discuss essential future research on using atVNS as an ADD-ON intervention in AUD to enhance clinical and cognitive outcomes by providing a translational application. Given that this novel technique can be worn like an earpiece and can be employed without medical supervision/outside the clinical settings, atVNS could be well integratable into the daily life of the patients, where the task of regaining control over drug intake is most challenging.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:91571 |
| Date | 06 June 2024 |
| Creators | Konjusha, Anyla, Colzato, Lorenza, Ghin, Filippo, Stock, Ann-Kathrin, Beste, Christian |
| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 1369-1600, e13202, 10.1111/adb.13202, info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/TRR 265: Verlust und Wiedererlangung der Kontrolle über den Drogenkonsum: Von Trajektorien über Mechanismen bis hin zu Interventionen/402170461/ |
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