Supporting data for Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Unveiling Its Underlying Neural Mechanisms and Potential for Alleviating Depression

Depression is a highly prevalent neuropsychiatric illness and one of the leading causes of health-related disease burden. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the detriment conditions, with an enormous upsurge in depression cases. The unsatisfactory response of depression episodes to the currently available treatments poses a major clinical and socioeconomic problem. The complex pathophysiology of depression may involve multiple central and peripheral nervous systems, resulting in challenges in effectively treating depression. Therefore, alternative therapeutic strategies are needed to target multiple depression-related mechanisms for improving treatment efficiency. Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a novel and promising non-invasive technique for treating depression. The current study investigated the antidepressant-like activities of chronic taVNS and its potential mechanisms in a model of depression. The current dataset contains all the data related to the antidepressant activity of taVNS and its underlying mechanisms of action.