The objective of this study was to determine the optimal frequency of respiratory-gated auricular vagal afferent nerve stimulation (RAVANS) for the modulation of blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Twelve hypertensive subjects (52.5±6.0 years, 8 females) underwent five randomized stimulation sessions, during which they received exhalatory-gated stimulation at frequencies of 2, 10, 25, and 100 Hz or sham stimulation. A continuous blood pressure signal was collected during a 30-minute stimulation period and a 10-minute recovery period using a Finometer device (Finapress Medical System, the Netherlands). LabChart (ADInstruments, Colorado Springs, CO, USA) was used to process and compute blood pressure responses. A significantly greater reduction of systolic blood pressure values during stimulation was observed in the 100 Hz session compared to sham (p=0.02). In addition, significant reductions in diastolic blood pressure (p=0.04) and mean arterial pressure (p=0.04) values were observed during RAVANS stimulation compared to baseline during the 100 Hz session. Evaluation of other stimulation frequencies did not reveal significant results. RAVANS exhibits a frequency-dependent effect on the modulation of arterial blood pressure levels of hypertensive subjects.
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