Sava Rebeca, Stanisic Nikola, Hindrot Linn, Chrcanovic Bruno, Pillai Rajath Sasidharan, Bucci Rosaria, Svensson Peter, Häggman-Henrikson Birgitta
Department of Orofacial Pain and Jaw Function, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Department of Orofacial Pain and Jaw Function, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden; Section for Orofacial Pain and Jaw Function, Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Neuroscience. 2025 Mar 5;568:38-45. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2025.01.024. Epub 2025 Jan 12.
Occlusal tactile acuity (OTA) and bite force are essential components of the sensorimotor control of oral behaviors. While these variables have been studied independently, it has not yet been revealed whether compressive force impacts the occlusal perception mediated by the mechanoreceptive afferents in the periodontal ligament. The present study examined the effect of repetition and maximum bite force on OTA by testing nine aluminum foils of different thicknesses together with a sham test with no foil, three times each, in randomized order in 36 healthy individuals. In addition, the 40 μm foil was tested three more times at the start of each session to evaluate possible short-term effects. This test session was repeated with and without an interspersed maximum bite force task in between. The results demonstrated that repeated measurements increased OTA significantly (p = 0.033); a change mainly driven by the 40 μm thickness, whereas maximum bite force tests did not affect OTA (p = 0.097). Collectively, the results suggest that the enhanced OTA may be attributed to repetition-mediated learning and neuroplasticity within the pathways related to OTA. Furthermore, the compressive bite force may have induced a short-term change that lasted seconds and was not detected by the subsequent OTA measurements or may have altogether inhibited the facilitatory effect of repeated OTA. This underscores the potential for future research to explore the implications of compressive force and pain on OTA in patient populations, which could provide valuable insights into the adaptive mechanisms of the sensorimotor system in pathological conditions.
咬合触觉敏锐度（OTA）和咬合力是口腔行为感觉运动控制的重要组成部分。虽然这些变量已被分别研究，但牙周膜中机械感受性传入神经介导的咬合感知是否受压缩力影响尚未明确。本研究通过让36名健康个体以随机顺序对九种不同厚度的铝箔进行测试，并进行一次无铝箔的假测试，每种测试各进行三次，来检验重复和最大咬合力对OTA的影响。此外，在每次测试开始时，对40μm厚的铝箔再进行三次测试，以评估可能的短期效应。在有和没有穿插最大咬合力任务的情况下重复进行此测试环节。结果表明，重复测量显著提高了OTA（p = 0.033）；这种变化主要由40μm的厚度驱动，而最大咬合力测试并未影响OTA（p = 0.097）。总体而言，结果表明OTA的提高可能归因于与OTA相关通路内重复介导的学习和神经可塑性。此外，压缩咬合力可能诱发了持续数秒的短期变化，后续的OTA测量未检测到这种变化，或者可能完全抑制了重复OTA的促进作用。这突出了未来研究探索压缩力和疼痛对患者群体OTA影响的潜力，这可能为病理状态下感觉运动系统的适应性机制提供有价值的见解。
