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Drawing on a collection of images from historical literature, this article traces the evolution of ideas and techniques, highlighting how early anatomical and histological studies established the foundation for modern investigations into vagal sensory function in health and disease. The review features the contributions of both well-known pioneers, including Adolph Hannover, Albert von K\u00f6lliker, Santiago Ram\u00f3n y Cajal, and Fernando de Castro, as well as lesser-known investigators such as Adam Ploschko, Sergey Izhevesky, and Margaret Brown, whose work helped advance the field but has received comparatively little historical attention.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1523\/eneuro.0143-26.2026","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T17:50:20Z","timestamp":1787075420000},"page":"ENEURO.0143-26.2026","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1523\/eneuro.crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Pictorial History of the Early Microscopic Study of Vagal Sensory Neurons"],"prefix":"10.1523","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3609-7441","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laurent","family":"Gautron","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"393","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026081810501319000_13.8.ENEURO.0143-26.2026.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1186\/s42234-022-00091-1","article-title":"Strategies for precision vagus neuromodulation","volume":"8","author":"Ahmed","year":"2022","journal-title":"Bioelectron Med"},{"key":"2026081810501319000_13.8.ENEURO.0143-26.2026.2","first-page":"422","article-title":"On the anatomical structure of the vagus nerve","volume":"32","author":"Barratt","year":"1898","journal-title":"J Anat Physiol"},{"key":"2026081810501319000_13.8.ENEURO.0143-26.2026.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103058","DOI":"10.1016\/j.conb.2025.103058","article-title":"Gut-brain communication: functional anatomy of vagal afferents","volume":"93","author":"Berthoud","year":"2025","journal-title":"Curr Opin Neurobiol"},{"key":"2026081810501319000_13.8.ENEURO.0143-26.2026.4","unstructured":"Bidder F (1847) Zur Lehre von dem Verh\u00e4ltniss der Ganglienk\u00f6rper zu den Nervenfasern . 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