Open AccessCommentary: “Electroconvulsive Stimulation (ECS) Increases the Expression of Neuropeptide Y (NPY) in Rat Brains in a Model of Neuropathic Pain: A Quantitative Real‐Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT‐PCR) Study,” by Okabe and Colleagues
Author(s) -
Wasan Ajay D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
pain medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.893
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1526-4637
pISSN - 1526-2375
DOI - 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2009.00744.x
Subject(s) - electroconvulsive therapy , neuropathic pain , anesthesia , medicine , stimulation , hyperalgesia , ligation , psychology , receptor , nociception , electroconvulsive shock
The report by Okabe and colleagues in the current issue of Pain Medicine investigates whether electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is useful for the treatment of neuropathic pain, using a lumbar nerve ligation model in the rat. Their methodology mimicked the clinical use of ECT in depressed patients in that treatments were administered every other day for several days. Mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia were measured daily over several days after the nerve ligation surgery and prior to ECT treatments to establish a baseline. Latency to paw withdrawal for mechanical and thermal stimuli was measured in the nerve-ligated (ipsilateral) limb and contralateral limb just prior to ECT treatments. The authors found that ECT produced antinociception to thermal stimuli in the …