Visually induced nausea causes characteristic changes in cerebral, autonomic and endocrine function in humans

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Physiology
• Gastroenterology

Background:

• Understanding the physiological basis of nausea is incomplete.
• Visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) provides a model to study nausea mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate psychophysiological changes in VIMS.
• To identify differences between nausea-sensitive and nausea-resistant individuals.

Main Methods:

• 98 healthy subjects underwent a randomized crossover design with motion or control stimuli.
• Assessed anxiety and nausea using validated questionnaires and visual analogue scale (VAS).
• Measured autonomic, electrogastrographic, plasma vasopressin, and ghrelin levels; functional neuroimaging was used in a subset.

Main Results:

• Nausea-sensitive subjects showed altered autonomic function (lower vagal tone, higher sympathetic index) and reduced plasma ghrelin.
• Increased left anterior cingulate cortex activity was observed in nausea-sensitive individuals.
• Nausea VAS scores correlated with plasma vasopressin, specific brain regions, and plasma ghrelin.

Conclusions:

• Subjective nausea is linked to objective changes in autonomic, endocrine, and neural networks.
• Identified potential objective biomarkers for nausea.
• Findings suggest targets for therapeutic interventions for motion sickness and nausea.