Department of Neurosurgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, CPO Box 8044, Seoul, Korea.
Neurol Sci. 2012 Dec;33(6):1265-70. doi: 10.1007/s10072-012-1097-7. Epub 2012 May 5.
Recently, deep brain stimulation (DBS) is widely used in various types of neurodegenerative disorders for minimal invasiveness and safety of the procedure. Deep brain stimulation is consistently applied for the treatment of patients with neuropathic pain even though the success rate is not as high as other neurodegenerative disorders. Furthermore, it is also unclear how DBS improves neuropathic pain. In this study, we investigated the role of DBS following the stimulation parameter for analgesic effect on mechanical allodynia and cold allodynia in neuropathic pain rats. We used a sciatic nerve injury model to induce neuropathic pain, and observed responses to mechanical and cold stimulation by the von Frey test and acetone test, respectively. We classified the rats into four groups: naïve (naïve, n = 10), naïve + DBS (N + DBS, n = 10), neuropathic pain (NP, n = 10), and neuropathic pain + DBS (NP + DBS, n = 10). We inserted the DBS electrode into the ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPL) into the rats (VPL-DBS). The score for mechanical allodynia was significantly decreased in NP + DBS group (p < 0.01). However, the score for cold allodynia did not significantly drop in any groups including NP + DBS group (p > 0.05). In this study, we found that the electrical stimulation of the VPL works more effectively with mechanical allodynia than cold one, and pain signal induced by mechanical stimulus and cold stimulus may be processed through different pathways in the brain.
最近，深部脑刺激（DBS）由于其手术的微创性和安全性，被广泛应用于各种类型的神经退行性疾病。即使 DBS 治疗神经性疼痛的成功率不如其他神经退行性疾病高，它也被持续应用于神经性疼痛患者的治疗。此外，DBS 如何改善神经性疼痛的机制仍不清楚。在这项研究中，我们研究了刺激参数改变后 DBS 对神经病理性疼痛大鼠机械性痛觉过敏和冷感觉过敏的镇痛作用。我们使用坐骨神经损伤模型诱导神经性疼痛，并通过 von Frey 试验和丙酮试验分别观察对机械刺激和冷刺激的反应。我们将大鼠分为四组：对照组（naïve，n = 10）、对照组+DBS（N + DBS，n = 10）、神经病理性疼痛组（NP，n = 10）和神经病理性疼痛+DBS 组（NP + DBS，n = 10）。我们将 DBS 电极插入大鼠的腹后外侧核（VPL）（VPL-DBS）。NP + DBS 组大鼠机械性痛觉过敏评分明显降低（p < 0.01）。然而，在包括 NP + DBS 组在内的任何组中，冷感觉过敏评分均无明显下降（p > 0.05）。在这项研究中，我们发现 VPL 的电刺激对机械性痛觉过敏的作用比冷感觉过敏更有效，且机械刺激和冷刺激引起的疼痛信号可能在大脑中通过不同的通路进行处理。
