Perspectives on the use of electrostimulation with the device “VEB”® in the management of disorders related to COVID-19

Background. One of the symptoms of COVID-19 is the so-called "cytokine storm". Its pathogenesis is that the initial release by lymphocytes and macrophages of proinflammatory cytokines in the classical immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is significantly enhanced and maintained due to excessive adrenergic stimulation of the immune cells. The proinflammatory adrenergic mechanism of the "cytokine storm" can be offset by the activation of the anti-inflammatory cholinergic mechanism by non-invasive stimulation of the vagus nerve. In 2015, a generator for electrotherapy and stimulation oh human nerve centers was created, called “VEB-1”®. Preliminary observation of volunteers revealed a modulating effect of a four-day course of electrical stimulation on the parameters of electroencephalogram, metabolism, as well as gas-discharge visualization (GDV). We hypothesized that changes in EEG parameters may be accompanied by a vagotonic shift of the sympatho-vagus balance, favorable for calming the “cytokine storm”. The main purpose of this study was to find out. In addition, concomitant changes in EEG, immunity, GDV, etc. due to the use of the devices "VEB-1"® and recently designed "VEB-2" had to be detected. Material and research methods. The object of observation were 18 volunteers: 11 women 33-62 y and 7 men 29-62 y (Mean±SD: 51±12 y) without clinical diagnose but with dysfunction of neuro-endocrine-immune complex and metabolism. In the morning registered HRV (“CardioLab+HRV”, “KhAI-Medica”, Kharkiv, UA), EEG (“NeuroCom Standard”, “KhAI-Medica”, Kharkiv, UA), kirlianogram by the method of GDV (“GDV Chamber”, “Biotechprogress”, SPb, RF), electroconductivity of skin in three pairs of points of acupuncture (“Medissa”), electrokinetic index of buccal epithelium ("Biotest", Kharkiv State University), as well as some parameters of immunity and metabolism. After the initial testing, an electrical stimulation session was performed with a “VEB-1”® or a “VEB-2” devices. The next morning after completing the four-day course, retesting was performed. Results. The effects of electrical stimulation can be divided into the following networks. Regarding EEG, this is a leveling of right-hand lateralization and normalizing decrease in the increased of the amplitude of the θ-rhythm and its spectral power density (SPD) at the loci F3, F7, F8, T3, T4, T6, P3, O1 and O2; further increase of SPD of δ-rhythm in loci F3, F4, T6, P3 and O1 as well as further decrease of SPD F4-α; reversion of the increased level of entropy in loci Fp1, F4, C3 and P3 to the lowered level. Regarding HRV, it is a vagotonic shift of sympatho-vagus balance due to a decrease in elevated levels of sympathetic tone markers and an increase in decreased levels of vagus tone markers, but without normalization. Neurotropic effects are accompanied by favorable changes in a number of immune parameters and a tendency to decrease the level of C-Reactive Protein. Regarding GDV, it is almost complete normalization of the initially increased GDI Area in the frontal projection and third Chakra Energy; normalizing decrease in the initially increased Energy of second and seventh Chakras; normalizing right-hand shift of more or less pronounced left-sided Asymmetry of first and third Chakra. These effects should be clearly interpreted as physiologically beneficial. The effects on these parameters are almost equally pronounced in people of both sexes when using both devices. Conclusion. Vagotonic and immunotropic effects of our device give us a reason to offer it for further research on the leveling of “cytokine storm” in patients with COVID-19.

Download Full-text

Perspectives on the use of electrostimulation with the device “VEB”® in the management of disorders related to COVID-19

10.31219/osf.io/cd4mv ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Radosław Muszkieta ◽

Igor L. Popovych ◽

Galyna I. Dubkova ◽

Tetyana A. Korolyshyn ◽

Viktor Y. Hubyts’kyi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Spectral Power ◽

Spectral Power Density ◽

Cytokine Storm ◽

Adrenergic Stimulation ◽

Cholinergic Mechanism ◽

Θ Rhythm ◽

Immune Parameters ◽

Right Hand ◽

Stimulation Of

Background. One of the symptoms of COVID-19 is the so-called "cytokine storm". Its pathogenesis is that the initial release by lymphocytes and macrophages of proinflammatory cytokines in the classical immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is significantly enhanced and maintained due to excessive adrenergic stimulation of the immune cells. The proinflammatory adrenergic mechanism of the "cytokine storm" can be offset by the activation of the anti-inflammatory cholinergic mechanism by non-invasive stimulation of the vagus nuclei (VNS). In 2015, a generator for electrotherapy and stimulation oh human nerve centers was created, called “VEB-1”. Preliminary observation of volunteers revealed a modulating effect of a four-day course of electrical stimulation on the parameters of electroencephalogram, metabolism, as well as gas-discharge visualization (GDV).. This report launches a series of articles on a comparative study of the course effects of the devices "VEB-1" and recently designed "VEB-2" on the sympathetic-vagal balance as key link of pathogenesis of "cytokine storm". Material and research methods. The object of observation were 18 volunteers: 11 women 33-62 y and 7 men 29-62 y (Mean±SD: 51±12 y) without clinical diagnose but with dysfunction of neuro-endocrine-immune complex and metabolism. In the morning registered HRV (“CardioLab+HRV”, “KhAI-Medica”, Kharkiv, UA), EEG (“NeuroCom Standard”, “KhAI-Medica”, Kharkiv, UA), kirlianogram by the method of GDV (“GDV Chamber”, “Biotechprogress”, SPb, RF), electroconductivity of skin in points of acupuncture (“Medissa”), electrokinetic index of buccal epithelium ("Biotest", Kharkiv State University), as well as some parameters of immunity and metabolism. After the initial testing, an electrical stimulation session was performed with a VEB-1 or a VEB-2 devices. The next morning after completing the four-day course, retesting was performed. Results. The effects of electrical stimulation can be divided into the following networks. Regarding EEG, this is a leveling of right-hand lateralization and normalizing decrease in the increased of the amplitude of the θ-rhythm and its spectral power density (SPD) at the loci F3, F7, F8, T3, T4, T6, P3, O1 and O2; further increase of SPD of δ-rhythm in loci F3, F4, T6, P3 and O1 as well as further decrease of SPD F4-α; reversion of the increased level of entropy in loci Fp1, F4, C3 and P3 to the lowered level. Regarding HRV, it is a vagotonic shift of sympatho-vagus balance due to a decrease in elevated levels of sympathetic tone markers and an increase in decreased levels of vagus tone markers, but without normalization. Neurotropic effects are accompanied by favorable changes in a number of immune parameters and a tendency to decrease the level of C-Reactive Protein. Regarding GDV, it is almost complete normalization of the initially increased GDI Area in the frontal projection and third Chakra Energy; normalizing decrease in the initially increased Energy of second and seventh Chakras; normalizing right-hand shift of more or less pronounced left-sided Asymmetry of first and third Chakra. These effects should be clearly interpreted as physiologically beneficial. The effects on these parameters are almost equally pronounced in people of both sexes when using both devices. Conclusion. Vagotonic and immunotropic effects of our device give us a reason to offer it for further research on the leveling of cytokine storm in COVID-19.

Download Full-text

Adrenergic Stimulation of the Rat Diencephalon and its Effect on Food Intake and Hoarding Activity

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/00335557043000050 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 125-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

J. E. Blundell ◽

L. J. Herberg

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Food Intake ◽

Food Deprivation ◽

Lateral Hypothalamus ◽

Adrenergic Stimulation ◽

Feeding Mechanism ◽

Stimulation Of ◽

Nutritional Depletion

The diencephalic area most sensitive to microinjections of noradrenaline lay outside the area of the lateral hypothalamus in which feeding can be produced by electrical stimulation. Injection of either area, including injections that caused increased feeding, failed to have any effect on hoarding activity. Since hoarding can be elicited both by food deprivation and by electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus, these findings indicate biochemical, anatomical and motivational differences between the central feeding mechanism sensitive to adrenergic stimulation, and that responding to electrical stimulation or nutritional depletion. The former mechanism may be disinhibitory; the latter, excitatory.

Download Full-text

Corticofugal Modulation of the Tactile Response Coherence of Projecting Neurons in the Gracilis Nucleus

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00815.2007 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 98 (5) ◽

pp. 2537-2549 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Nazareth P. Castellanos ◽

Eduardo Malmierca ◽

Angel Nuñez ◽

Valeri A. Makarov

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Tactile Stimulation ◽

Spectral Power ◽

Temporal Structure ◽

Neural Response ◽

Spike Timing ◽

Sensory Stimulus ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Tactile Response ◽

Stimulation Of

Precise and reproducible spike timing is one of the alternatives of the sensory stimulus encoding. We test coherence (repeatability) of the response patterns elicited in projecting gracile neurons by tactile stimulation and its modulation provoked by electrical stimulation of the corticofugal feedback from the somatosensory (SI) cortex. To gain the temporal structure we adopt the wavelet-based approach for quantification of the functional stimulus–neural response coupling. We show that the spontaneous firing patterns (when they exist) are essentially random. Tactile stimulation of the neuron receptive field strongly increases the spectral power in the stimulus and 5- to 15-Hz frequency bands. However, the functional coupling (coherence) between the sensory stimulus and the neural response exhibits ultraslow oscillation (0.07 Hz). During this oscillation the stimulus coherence can temporarily fall below the statistically significant level, i.e., the functional stimulus–response coupling may be temporarily lost for a single neuron. We further demonstrate that electrical stimulation of the SI cortex increases the stimulus coherence for about 60% of cells. We find no significant correlation between the increment of the firing rate and the stimulus coherence, but we show that there is a positive correlation with the amplitude of the peristimulus time histogram. The latter argues that the observed facilitation of the neural response by the corticofugal pathway, at least in part, may be mediated through an appropriate ordering of the stimulus-evoked firing pattern, and the coherence enhancement is more relevant in gracilis nucleus than an increase of the number of spikes elicited by the tactile stimulus.

Download Full-text

Effect of Electrical Stimulation of the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract on Electroencephalographic Spectral Power and the Sleep–Wake Cycle in Freely Moving Cats

Brain Stimulation ◽

10.1016/j.brs.2016.08.012 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 116-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

D. Martínez-Vargas ◽

A. Valdés-Cruz ◽

V.M. Magdaleno-Madrigal ◽

R. Fernández-Mas ◽

S. Almazán-Alvarado

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Spectral Power ◽

Solitary Tract ◽

Freely Moving ◽

Freely Moving Cats ◽

Stimulation Of

Download Full-text

Electrical Stimulation of Cerebellar Fastigial Nucleus Reduces Ischemic Infarction Elicited by Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Rat

Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism ◽

10.1038/jcbfm.1991.139 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 810-818 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Donald J. Reis ◽

Scott B. Berger ◽

Mark D. Underwood ◽

Mazen Khayata

Keyword(s):

Blood Flow ◽

Cerebral Blood Flow ◽

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Middle Cerebral Artery ◽

Cerebral Artery ◽

Fastigial Nucleus ◽

Sprague Dawley ◽

Cholinergic Mechanism ◽

Ischemic Infarction ◽

Stimulation Of

Electrical stimulation of the cerebellar fastigial nucleus (FN) globally and profoundly increases cerebral blood flow via a cholinergic mechanism. In cerebral cortex, the vasodilation is unassociated with alterations in cerebral glucose utilization, a condition favoring protection against cerebral ischemia. We sought to determine whether FN stimulation would modify the size of the focal ischemic infarction resulting from occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). The MCA was occluded in anesthetized rats of the spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) or Sprague-Dawley (SD) strains with or without 1 h of electrical stimulation of the FN. Twenty-four hours later, rats were killed and the volume of the infarction established in thionin-stained sections. In SHRs, FN stimulation reduced by 40% the well-established cortical and partially subcortical infarctions elicited by occlusion of the MCA (from 186 ± 35.2 to 113 ± 47.1 mm3, mean ± SD, n = 15; p < 0.001). The zone of retrieval was anatomically constant, consisting of a rim of cortex dorsal and ventral to the infarction and medially within the thalamus and striatum corresponding to the penumbral zone described by others. The effect was comparable in rats of the SD strain having smaller infarctions. The effect of FN stimulation appears to be selective for the FN system in that it is not evoked by stimulation of the dentate nucleus and is blocked by systemic administration of atropine (1.0 mg/kg). We conclude that excitation of an intrinsic system in brain represented in the rostral FN has the capacity to reduce substantially an ischemic infarction. Whether the result is a consequence of an action of the FN upon cerebral blood flow and/or results from protective actions of released transmitter is yet unknown.

Download Full-text