A new non-invasive neurostimulation technique capable of reaching deep regions of the brain has been used to elucidate the brain\u2019s pain mechanisms, with promising clinical applications in neurology and psychiatry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Described in a study published in the journal Pain, the technique developed by researchers at Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al offers a new way to probe neural pain networks, with the prospect of developing effective clinical interventions.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil recently, neuromodulation techniques included invasive methods (deep brain stimulation) and non-invasive approaches that had limited ability to reach deep regions of the brain,” said Oury Monchi, an UdeM nuclear medicine professor.<\/p>\n
“This is particularly true of transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS),\u201d said Monchi, who conducts his research at UdeM’s Institute of Geriatrics (CRIUGM).<\/p>\n
\u201cTranscranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) presents itself as an innovative alternative, as it uses energy in a non-invasive manner to target deep regions of the brain more precisely and more deeply, particularly those involved in pain,\u201d added PhD student Ali K. Zadeh, the study’s first author.<\/p>\n
The researchers conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled experimental trial involving 25 healthy participants aged 18 to 40, to evaluate the effect of TUS on various pain sensitivity tests, specifically targeting two brain regions: the left primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and the left ventropostolateral (VPL) nucleus of the thalamus.<\/p>\n
Stimulation of the S1 region turned out to significantly lower the detection threshold and tolerance to thermal pain on the side opposite to the stimulation, reflecting increased pain sensitivity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the same time, targeting S1 or VPL resulted in a bilateral decrease in the detection threshold for non-painful heat. By contrast, no significant changes were observed in sensitivity to mechanical pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These observations confirm the involvement of the S1-VPL axis in the thermal component of pain, the researchers say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new non-invasive neurostimulation technique capable of reaching deep regions of the brain has been used to elucidate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10454,49,48,233013,233014,233011,232715,232713,97286,232714,84,233009,3563,233010,233012,994,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-620635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-brain","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-centre-de-recherche-de-linstitut-universitaire-de-geriatrie-de-montreal","12":"tag-criugm","13":"tag-department-of-radiology","14":"tag-department-of-stomatology","15":"tag-faculty-of-dentistry","16":"tag-faculty-of-medicine","17":"tag-fmd","18":"tag-health","19":"tag-oury-monchi","20":"tag-pain","21":"tag-pierre-rainville","22":"tag-radio-oncology-and-nuclear-medicine","23":"tag-research","24":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}