title: Modulation of human trigeminal and extracranial nociceptive processing by transcranial direct current stimulation of the motor cortex.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study was conducted to investigate the after-effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the human primary motor cortex (M1) on trigeminal and extracranial nociceptive processing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen healthy volunteers were stimulated using cathodal, anodal (both 1 mA) or sham tDCS for 20 minutes. Pain processing was assessed by recording trigeminal and extracranial pain-related evoked potentials (PREPs) following electrical stimulation of the contralateral forehead and hand at baseline, 0, 20 and 50 minutes post-tDCS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cathodal tDCS resulted in decreased peak-to-peak amplitudes (PPAs) by 18% while anodal tDCS lead to increased PPAs of PREPs by 35% (p < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decreased PPAs suggest an inhibition and the increased PPAs of PREPs suggest an excitation of trigeminal and extracranial pain processing induced by tDCS of the M1. These results may provide evidence for the effectiveness of tDCS as a therapeutic instrument in treating headache disorders.
authors.affiliation: University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Hansen_N@klinik.uni-wuerzburg.de
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Obermann
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Poitz
authors.forename: Dagny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holle
authors.forename: Hans-Christoph
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Diener
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antal
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Paulus
authors.forename: Zaza
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Katsarava
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult