Biomedical Signals and Systems, Technical Medical Centre, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Brain Topogr. 2021 Mar;34(2):139-153. doi: 10.1007/s10548-020-00816-y. Epub 2021 Jan 18.
Monitoring nociceptive processing is a current challenge due to a lack of objective measures. Recently, we developed a method for simultaneous tracking of psychophysical detection probability and brain evoked potentials in response to intra-epidermal stimulation. An exploratory investigation showed that we could quantify nociceptive system behavior by estimating the effect of stimulus properties on the evoked potential (EP). The goal in this work was to accurately measure nociceptive system behavior using this method in a large group of healthy subjects to identify the locations and latencies of EP components and the effect of single- and double-pulse stimuli with an inter-pulse interval of 10 or 40 ms on these EP components and detection probability. First, we observed the effect of filter settings and channel selection on the EP. Subsequently, we compared statistical models to assess correlation of EP and detection probability with stimulus properties, and quantified the effect of stimulus properties on both outcome measures through linear mixed regression. We observed lateral and central EP components in response to intra-epidermal stimulation. Detection probability and central EP components were positively correlated to the amplitude of each pulse, regardless of the inter-pulse interval, and negatively correlated to the trial number. Both central and lateral EP components also showed strong correlation with detection. These results show that both the observed EP and the detection probability reflect the various steps of processing of a nociceptive stimulus, including peripheral nerve fiber recruitment, central synaptic summation, and habituation to a repeated stimulus.
由于缺乏客观的测量方法，目前对伤害性感受处理的监测仍然是一个挑战。最近，我们开发了一种方法，可以同时跟踪表皮内刺激引起的心理物理检测概率和大脑诱发电位。一项探索性研究表明，我们可以通过估计刺激特性对诱发电位（EP）的影响来量化伤害性感受系统的行为。本研究的目的是使用该方法在大量健康受试者中准确测量伤害性感受系统的行为，以确定 EP 成分的位置和潜伏期，以及 10 或 40ms 时程的单脉冲和双脉冲刺激对这些 EP 成分和检测概率的影响。首先，我们观察了滤波器设置和通道选择对 EP 的影响。随后，我们比较了统计模型，以评估 EP 和检测概率与刺激特性的相关性，并通过线性混合回归量化刺激特性对这两个结果指标的影响。我们观察到表皮内刺激引起的侧支和中央 EP 成分。检测概率和中央 EP 成分与每个脉冲的幅度呈正相关，与脉冲间隔无关，与试验次数呈负相关。中央和侧支 EP 成分也与检测有很强的相关性。这些结果表明，观察到的 EP 和检测概率都反映了伤害性刺激处理的各个步骤，包括周围神经纤维募集、中枢突触总和以及对重复刺激的习惯化。
