Diana Ibarra / Psychology / Faculty Mentor: Yuan Bo Peng
Electrical stimulation (ES) is a valuable technique used for the intervention of pain, both in the peripheral or central nervous system. To investigate the efficacy of ES for acute pain relief, we utilize ES in the left ankle and local field potential (LFP) to observe alterations in power across frequency bands in four distinct rat brain regions: the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), bilateral amygdala (AMG), and ventral tegmental area (VTA). The LFP can be subdivided into five frequency bands: delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. Under isoflurane anesthesia, LFP was recorded in 2 separate conditions for each animal with 3 different parameters: 1ms duration, 11s at 5v, 10v, 50v, and 100v, delivered once, 3 minutes apart at 1, 50, and 100 Hz, before and after 50ul of 3% formalin injection in the left paw (nociceptive input). The results reveal that without formalin, under lower intensity stimulation, there was no change in power across the five frequency bands. However, administering a higher intensity stimulation tends to produce a transient suppression followed by a rebound phase. These findings suggest that the intensity and level of stimulation play a crucial role in modulating neural activity and highlights the complex dynamics of neural responses.
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