Abstract: The vagus nerve is involved in the regulation of human inflammation, mood and pain. Stimulation of the vagus nerve has assured therapeutic effects on intracepilepsy and refractory depression. On the surface of the human body, the ear is the only area in which vagal afferent fibers distribute. According to the "bottom-up" mechanism of the signal processing, the central nervous system can be modulatedstimulating the peripheral nerve. Therefore, stimulation of the vagus nerve can regulate the activities of brain stem, thalamus, cerebral cortex and other related areas to produce therapeutic effects. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation is a safe, low-cost, non-invasive physical therapy modified vagus nerve stimulation. This review focuses on the regulation of organ functiontranscutaneous vagus nerve stimulation and its application to diseases treatment.

Key words: transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation, physical therapy, functional regulation, clinical application