Fig. 4

Vibrotactile stimulation at the cymba concha but not at the gastrocnemius, attenuates inflammatory responses in healthy subjects ex vivo. Nineteen healthy subjects enrolled in a cross-over study at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research received stimulation at either the cymba concha or gastrocnemius on two different days. Blood was collected 30 min prior and 1 h post stimulation. Whole blood was incubated with LPS, and cytokine levels in plasma were determined 4 h after. (a) Effect of vibrotactile stimulation at the cymba concha on cytokine responses in healthy subjects. (TNF *p < 0.05, IL-6 ***p < 0.001, IL-1β **p < 0.01, Wilcoxon matched-pairs test) (b) Effect of vibrotactile stimulation at the gastrocnemius on cytokine responses in healthy subjects. Open circles represent the pre-treatment and close circles represent post-treatment cytokine levels with lines connecting data points for each individual study participant