Kim Jinhyung, Lee Sung Eun, Shin Jaewoo, Jung Hyun Ho, Kim Sung June, Chang Jin Woo
Brain Korea 21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. ; Nano Bioelectronics and System Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
J Korean Neurosurg Soc. 2015 Jan;57(1):6-11. doi: 10.3340/jkns.2015.57.1.6. Epub 2015 Jan 31.
Neuropathic pain causes patients feel indescribable pain. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is one of the treatment methods in neuropathic pain but the action mechanism is still unclear. To study the effect and mechanism of analgesic effects from DBS in neuropathic pain and to enhance the analgesic effect of DBS, we stimulated the ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPL) in rats.
To observe the effect from VPL stimulation, we established 3 groups : normal group (Normal group), neuropathic pain group (Pain group) and neuropathic pain+DBS group (DBS group). Rats in DBS group subjected to electrical stimulation and the target is VPL.
We observed the behavioral changes by DBS in VPL (VPL-DBS) on neuropathic pain rats. In our study, the pain score which is by conventional test method was effectively decreased. In specific, the time of showing withdrawal response from painful stimulation which is not used measuring method in our animal model was also decreased by DBS.
The VPL is an effective target on pain modulation. Specifically we could demonstrate changes of pain response duration which is not used, and it was also significantly meaningful. We thought that this study would be helpful in understanding the relation between VPL-DBS and neuropathic pain.
神经性疼痛使患者感到难以形容的疼痛。深部脑刺激(DBS)是治疗神经性疼痛的方法之一,但其作用机制仍不清楚。为了研究DBS对神经性疼痛的镇痛效果及机制,并增强DBS的镇痛作用,我们对大鼠的腹后外侧核(VPL)进行了刺激。
为观察VPL刺激的效果,我们设立了3组:正常组(Normal组)、神经性疼痛组(Pain组)和神经性疼痛+DBS组(DBS组)。DBS组大鼠接受电刺激,靶点为VPL。
我们观察了VPL的DBS(VPL-DBS)对神经性疼痛大鼠行为的影响。在我们的研究中,采用传统测试方法测得的疼痛评分有效降低。具体而言,在我们的动物模型中,DBS还缩短了对疼痛刺激出现撤反应的时间,而这并非我们所采用的测量方法。
VPL是疼痛调制的一个有效靶点。具体而言,我们能够证明未使用的疼痛反应持续时间的变化,这也具有显著意义。我们认为这项研究将有助于理解VPL-DBS与神经性疼痛之间的关系。