Thermal sensitivity in healthy subjects is decreased by a central mechanism after TNS.
Using the thermal sense as a model for nociception, the effects of conventional and acupuncture-like transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TNS) were tested on thresholds for warm and cold sensation in 8 healthy subjects. Photic stimulation did not change the thermically neutral zone (the warm-cold difference limen) from that seen under baseline conditions. However, the thermal difference limen usually increased with both types of TNS. The effect was ipsi- as well as contralateral, implying that a central inhibitory mechanism is activated by conventional and acupuncture-like TNS.
D000328:Adult; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology; D013697:Thermosensing / Q000502:physiology*; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation