Feinstein Institutes Release Anatomical Maps of the Human Vagus Nerve on SPARC

Feinstein Institutes Release Anatomical Maps of the Human Vagus Nerve on SPARC

On July 27, the Feinstein Institutes announced the public release of maps compiled over three years from 30 donors and covering 60 nerves. The materials are now available in the SPARC repository for use by other research groups.

The vagus nerve extends from the brainstem to organs in the neck, chest, and abdomen. It helps regulate heart rate, breathing, digestion, and immune responses. Within the main nerve trunk, fibers are organized into bundles that later separate into branches leading to different organs.

An electrode stimulates a specific region of the nerve, which may contain adjacent bundles that follow different routes. Selecting a stimulation site therefore requires a view of the internal anatomy of that region. The open SPARC record contains photographs and videos of dissections, ultrasound images, microcomputed tomography along the length of the nerve, and stained tissue sections. Together, these materials allow researchers to relate the nerve's external course to the arrangement of its bundles and its microscopic structure.

Open data make electrode selection a testable process. One group can show which bundles it associates with an electrode model, and another group can verify that mapping against the same human data. The CC BY 4.0 license permits the materials to be used in new research with attribution to the authors.

For bioelectronic medicine, the dataset provides a shared anatomical reference. Device designers can compare a proposed stimulation site with available images of the nerve instead of relying only on a simplified diagram.