How can stimulating a nerve in the neck reduce seizures in the brain? · Grey Matter

Most fibres of the vagus nerve carry signals from the body to the brainstem, so pulses applied to the nerve in the neck reach the nucleus of the solitary tract and, through it, the locus coeruleus, the raphe nuclei and the thalamus.

How can stimulating a nerve in the neck reduce seizures in the brain?

Most fibres of the vagus nerve carry signals from the body to the brainstem, so pulses applied to the nerve in the neck reach the nucleus of the solitary tract and, through it, the locus coeruleus, the raphe nuclei and the thalamus. The leading explanations are that this raises noradrenaline and serotonin across the cortex and makes cortical activity less synchronous, though the exact mechanism is not settled. On average seizures fall by about half after a year of treatment, about half of people have at least a 50 % reduction, and few become seizure-free.