In contrast, afferent VNS seems to inhibit HPA axis activity under experimental or clinical conditions associated with elevated HPA axis activity, such as restraint stress in rats (Ghosal et al., 2014), CRH application in rodents (Chen et al., 2021), CRH challenge test in patients with major depressive disorder (O'Keane et al., 2005), or in a rodent model of chronic mild stress (Liu et al., 2013). The gene discussed is CRH; the disease is major depressive disorder.