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Updated: Jul 8, 2025

Increased Recovery Time and Decreased LPS Administration to Study the Vagus Nerve Stimulation Mechanisms in Limited Inflammatory Responses
Published on: March 29, 2017
The brain-liver cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway and viral infections
Samuel Martínez-Meza1, Bhavya Singh2, Douglas F Nixon2
1Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA. sam4046@med.cornell.edu.
Abstract:
Efferent cholinergic signaling is a critical and targetable source of immunoregulation. The vagus nerve (VN) is the primary source of cholinergic signaling in the body, and partially innervates hepatic functionality through the liver-brain axis. Virus-induced disruption of cholinergic signaling may promote pathogenesis in hepatotropic and neurotropic viruses. Therefore, restoring VN functionality could be a novel therapeutic strategy to alleviate pathogenic inflammation in hepatotropic and neurotropic viral infections alike. In this minireview, we discuss the physiological importance of cholinergic signaling in maintaining liver-brain axis homeostasis. Next, we explore mechanisms by which the VN is perturbed by viral infections, and how non-invasive restoration of cholinergic signaling pathways with bioelectronic medicine (BEM) might ameliorate hepatic inflammation and neuroinflammation in certain viral infections.
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