Evaluating Action Potential Blockade of Spinal Cord Stimulation Using an Earthworm Model
Submission Type
Event
Expected Graduation Date
2015
Location
Center for Natural Science, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-18-2015 2:00 PM
End Date
4-18-2015 3:00 PM
Disciplines
Psychology
Abstract
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is known to be an effective therapeutic treatment to relieve symptoms of chronic pain in patients with either a high risk for opiate dependence, or insufficient response to conservative treatments (Alo, Yland, Kramer, Charnov, and Redko, 1998; Campbell and Meyer, 2006; Smits, Kleef, Holsheimer, and Joosten, 2013). It is thought to operate by the mechanism described in the gate-control theory, meaning painful stimuli in the form of action potentials from the extremities can be masked using a secondary source of electrical potential placed between the site of pain and the brain, the site of perception (Smits et al, 2013). There is a large amount of variation in the stimulation parameters among physicians and few in-depth studies have examined the optimal stimulation parameters for clinical treatment. The earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) is a well understood model in electrophysiological experiments because of its relative simplicity and its direct similarities to human nerves (Bullock, 1945; Eduardo and Bennett, 1955). In this experiment, an earthworm model is used to simulate a human Aβ-fiber, which is targeted in clinical SCS treatment. Results will be discussed evaluating the blockage of action potentials by the application of SCS at three major frequencies (50 Hz; 1,000 Hz; 10,000 Hz) using a range of voltages (0.01-10 mV using a logarithmic scale) in order to find an optimal blockage condition.
Evaluating Action Potential Blockade of Spinal Cord Stimulation Using an Earthworm Model
Center for Natural Science, Illinois Wesleyan University
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is known to be an effective therapeutic treatment to relieve symptoms of chronic pain in patients with either a high risk for opiate dependence, or insufficient response to conservative treatments (Alo, Yland, Kramer, Charnov, and Redko, 1998; Campbell and Meyer, 2006; Smits, Kleef, Holsheimer, and Joosten, 2013). It is thought to operate by the mechanism described in the gate-control theory, meaning painful stimuli in the form of action potentials from the extremities can be masked using a secondary source of electrical potential placed between the site of pain and the brain, the site of perception (Smits et al, 2013). There is a large amount of variation in the stimulation parameters among physicians and few in-depth studies have examined the optimal stimulation parameters for clinical treatment. The earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) is a well understood model in electrophysiological experiments because of its relative simplicity and its direct similarities to human nerves (Bullock, 1945; Eduardo and Bennett, 1955). In this experiment, an earthworm model is used to simulate a human Aβ-fiber, which is targeted in clinical SCS treatment. Results will be discussed evaluating the blockage of action potentials by the application of SCS at three major frequencies (50 Hz; 1,000 Hz; 10,000 Hz) using a range of voltages (0.01-10 mV using a logarithmic scale) in order to find an optimal blockage condition.