Ear Nerve Stimulation Offers New Hope for Asthma and Lung Inflammation Treatment

Muscat: An international research team from Kyoto University in Japan, together with the Icahn School of Medicine in the United States, has identified a novel biological approach that could transform the treatment of lung inflammation and asthma attacks by stimulating a nerve in the outer ear to help reduce inflammation in the lungs. According to Oman News Agency, the researchers focused on the auricular branch of the vagus nerve - the only part of the nerve that reaches the skin's surface. In experiments on mice with allergic airway inflammation, stimulating this branch increased levels of the signalling molecule CGRP in the airways, significantly reducing lung inflammation. When the nerve fibres were inhibited, the disease worsened, they found. The study demonstrates for the first time a neural pathway connecting the skin of the outer ear to immune responses in the lungs, opening the door to bioelectronic therapies for inflammatory diseases as an alternative to conventional drugs. The approach holds pote ntial for treating a range of inflammatory conditions, including pulmonary fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis. 'Our findings reveal a previously unknown neuro-immune reflex that connects the skin and the lungs,' said Rintaro Shibuya, a researcher at Kyoto University.