About this Research Topic

Background

Neural stimulation is a promising bioelectronic medicine approach that can supplement or replace the conventional pharmaceutical approach that has been in place for decades to treat neurological disorders. Since stimulation can be specifically delivered to the brain region that is causing the pathology, the wide range of adverse effects from drug treatment are mitigated. Aside from its promising efficacy and safety profile, precise stimulation of the brain often requires high-risk, high-cost surgeries to implant the electrodes to the specific neural target. For example, in deep brain stimulation (DBS), the electrodes are attached to a wire that connects to a battery delivering the stimulation. Yet, in fact, the nervous system already has wires connecting to and from those targets! Recent advancements in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, together with improvements in functional imaging techniques have allowed us to map the brain and its connections and projections to the body with higher precision. Then, what if we could stimulate a specific brain region without going through a surgery? Instead, we could utilize the existing wires forming the peripheral nervous system. Indeed, several studies have already demonstrated that the diseases conventionally treated by brain implants can also be treated through non-invasive peripheral stimulation with electrical pulses or vibration. Furthermore, there is a growing interest around novel techniques to utilize the peripheral nervous system (e.g. via electrical, vibrotactile, audio/visual stimulation) for treatment of various neurological and autonomic indications.

The aim of this Research Topic is to attract interdisciplinary research exploring the utility and mechanisms of the activation of peripheral nervous system as a therapeutic tool, including clinical, pre-clinical and computational modeling studies.

We encourage contributions investigating the effect of non-invasive or minimally invasive peripheral stimulation techniques (such as electrical, somatosensory, audio/visual, magnetic) on the central nervous system, with therapeutic end goal. Comparative or hybrid research with invasive techniques, and studies exploring the enhancement of healthy neural function through peripheral activation are welcome as well.

Type of manuscripts: Original Research, Systematic Review, Review (and mini-Review), Perspective, Clinical Trial, Case Report, Brief Research Report.

Keywords: Peripheral stimulation, central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, non-invasive neuromodulation, somatosensory stimulation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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