A study published in the scientific journal "Immunity" showed that stimulating the nerve in the outer ear may help reduce inflammation in the lungs, and may constitute a new method in the future.
The researchers studied the auricular branch of the vagus nerve, the only part of this nerve that reaches the skin surface, and during the experiments this branch was stimulated in laboratory mice with allergic inflammation of the respiratory tract.
This stimulation was shown to increase the level of the signaling substance CGRPβ in the respiratory tract, which significantly reduced lung inflammation. Conversely, when the activity of the nerve fibers was inhibited, the disease was more severe and intense.
According to the researchers, this procedure demonstrated for the first time the existence of a neural mechanism linking the skin of the outer ear to immune processes in the lungs, which may open the way for the development of bioelectronic therapies for inflammatory diseases, instead of traditional drug-based methods.
Although the results are still limited to animals so far, scientists are already working on designing a clinical study to test the effectiveness of a special device for stimulating the auricular nerve in human asthma patients.
It is worth noting that a study conducted by Brazilian researchers also showed that acupuncture in the ear area may help alleviate the pain caused by chronic migraines and reduce their negative impact on daily life.
