Abstract
Ramp-and-hold heat stimulation with a Peltier thermode is a standard procedure for quantitative sensory testing of human pain sensitivity. Because myelinated and unmyelinated nociceptive afferents respond preferentially to changing and steady temperatures, respectively, ramp-and-hold heat stimulation could assess processing of input from A-delta nociceptors early and C nociceptors late during prolonged thermal stimulation. In order to evaluate the progression from dynamic change to a steady temperature during prolonged Peltier stimulation, recordings of temperatures at the probe–skin interface were obtained. First, recordings of temperature during contact-and-hold stimulation (solenoid powered delivery of a preheated thermode to the skin) provided an evaluation of heat dissipation from the beginning of stimulation, uncontaminated by ramping. The heat-sink effect lasted up to 8 s and accounted in part for a slow increase in pain intensity for stimulus durations of 1–16 s and stimulus intensities of 43–59 °C. Recordings during longer periods of stimulation showed that feedback-controlled Peltier stimulation generated oscillations in temperature that were tracked for up to 75 s by subjects’ continuous ratings of pain. During 120-s trials, sensitization of pain was observed over 45 s after the oscillations subsided. Thus, long-duration stimulation can be utilized to evaluate sensitization, presumably of C nociception, when not disrupted by oscillations in thermode temperature (e.g., those inherent to feedback control of Peltier stimulation). In contrast, sensitization was not observed during 130.5 s of stimulation with alternately increasing and decreasing temperatures that repeatedly activated A-delta nociceptors.
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Alison Riley is acknowledged for recruiting and testing subjects. This research is supported by grant #AG039659 from the National Institute of Aging.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest with the funding agency.
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Vierck, C.J., Mauderli, A.P. & Riley III, J.L. Relationships between the intensity and duration of Peltier heat stimulation and pain magnitude. Exp Brain Res 225, 339–348 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3375-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3375-2