A distinct biomarker of continuous transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation treatment in major depressive disorder

Background Major depression is the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide and poses a socioeconomic burden worldwide. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a promising noninvasive clinical device that may reduce the severity of major depression. However, the neural mechanism underlying continuous tVNS has not yet been elucidated. Objective We aimed to explore the effect of hypothalamic subregion functional connectivity (FC)...