Nociceptive Intra-epidermal Electric Stimulation Evokes Steady-State Responses in the Secondary Somatosensory Cortex

Nociceptive Intra-epidermal Electric Stimulation Evokes Steady-State Responses in the Secondary Somatosensory Cortex

van den Berg, Boudewijn (University of Twente)
Manoochehri, M. (TU Delft Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Control)
Schouten, A.C. (TU Delft Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Control; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; University of Twente)
van der Helm, F.C.T. (TU Delft Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Control; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Buitenweg, Jan R. (University of Twente)

2022

Recent studies have established the presence of nociceptive steady-state evoked potentials (SSEPs), generated in response to thermal or intra-epidermal electric stimuli. This study explores cortical sources and generation mechanisms of nociceptive SSEPs in response to intra-epidermal electric stimuli. Our method was to stimulate healthy volunteers (n = 22, all men) with 100 intra-epidermal pulse sequences. Each sequence had a duration of 8.5 s, and consisted of pulses with a pulse rate between 20 and 200 Hz, which was frequency modulated with a multisine waveform of 3, 7 and 13 Hz (n = 10, 1 excluded) or 3 and 7 Hz (n = 12, 1 excluded). As a result, evoked potentials in response to stimulation onset and contralateral SSEPs at 3 and 7 Hz were observed. The SSEPs at 3 and 7 Hz had an average time delay of 137 ms and 143 ms respectively. The evoked potential in response to stimulation onset had a contralateral minimum (N1) at 115 ms and a central maximum (P2) at 300 ms. Sources for the multisine SSEP at 3 and 7 Hz were found through beamforming near the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex. Sources for the N1 were found near the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex. Sources for the N2-P2 were found near the supplementary motor area. Harmonic and intermodulation frequencies in the SSEP power spectrum remained below a detectable level and no evidence for nonlinearity of nociceptive processing, i.e. processing of peripheral firing rate into cortical evoked potentials, was found.

Beamforming
Evoked potentials
Intra-epidermal stimulation
Nociceptive processing
Source localization
Steady-state evoked potentials

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:dff68b4d-92c1-47c8-a27d-a053a8b958ca

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-022-00888-y

0896-0267

Brain Topography, 35 (2), 169-181

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2022 Boudewijn van den Berg, M. Manoochehri, A.C. Schouten, F.C.T. van der Helm, Jan R. Buitenweg