Body of Research

Auricular stimulation has been applied for medical treatment for thousands of years, and became popularized on the developments of Dr. Paul Nogier, the “father” of auriculotherapy and auriculomedicine. In the present study, the relationship between the auricular acupuncture and the vagal regulation has been reviewed. It is shown that auricular acupuncture plays a role in vagal activity of autonomic functions of cardiovascular, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems. Mechanism studies suggested that afferent projections from especially the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (ABVN) to the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) form the anatomical basis for the vagal regulation of auricular acupuncture. The authors propose the “auriculovagal afferent pathway” (AVAP) and the idea that both the autonomic and the central nervous system could be modified by auricular vagal stimulation via projections from the ABVN to the NTS. Read more.