Jadidi Armita Faghani, Jensen Winnie, Zarei Ali Asghar, Lontis Eugen Romulus, Atashzar S Farokh
Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg East, Denmark.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New York University, New York, NY, United States.
Front Neurosci. 2023 Aug 2;17:1239068. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1239068. eCollection 2023.
Modulation in the temporal pattern of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), such as Pulse width modulated (PWM), has been considered a new dimension in pain and neurorehabilitation therapy. Recently, the potentials of PWM TENS have been studied on sensory profiles and corticospinal activity. However, the underlying mechanism of PWM TENS on cortical network which might lead to pain alleviation is not yet investigated. Therefore, we recorded cortical activity using electroencephalography (EEG) from 12 healthy subjects and assessed the alternation of the functional connectivity at the cortex level up to an hour following the PWM TENS and compared that with the effect of conventional TENS. The connectivity between eight brain regions involved in sensory and pain processing was calculated based on phase lag index and spearman correlation. The alteration in segregation and integration of information in the network were investigated using graph theory. The proposed analysis discovered several statistically significant network changes between PWM TENS and conventional TENS, such as increased local strength and efficiency of the network in high gamma-band in primary and secondary somatosensory sources one hour following stimulation. Our findings regarding the long-lasting desired effects of PWM TENS support its potential as a therapeutic intervention in clinical research.
经皮电神经刺激（TENS）时间模式的调制，如脉宽调制（PWM），已被视为疼痛和神经康复治疗的一个新维度。最近，人们对PWM TENS在感觉特征和皮质脊髓活动方面的潜力进行了研究。然而，PWM TENS对可能导致疼痛缓解的皮质网络的潜在机制尚未得到研究。因此，我们使用脑电图（EEG）记录了12名健康受试者的皮质活动，并评估了PWM TENS后长达一小时内皮质水平上功能连接性的变化，并将其与传统TENS的效果进行比较。基于相位滞后指数和斯皮尔曼相关性计算了参与感觉和疼痛处理的八个脑区之间的连接性。使用图论研究了网络中信息分离和整合的变化。所提出的分析发现了PWM TENS和传统TENS之间几个具有统计学意义的网络变化，例如在刺激后一小时，初级和次级体感源的高伽马波段网络的局部强度和效率增加。我们关于PWM TENS长期预期效果的研究结果支持了其作为临床研究中一种治疗干预手段的潜力。
