A team of researchers from the University of Michigan (USA) has found thatwhen applying electricity-specifically a transcranial direct current stimulus (tDCS) –a substance similar to an opioid is released to certain regions of the brain of a patient with severe and chronic facial painIt is considered as one of the most powerful natural pain relievers in the body.
Alexandre DaSilva and his colleagues administered, intravenously, a radioactive tracer that reached important areas of the brain in a patient with trigeminal neuropathic pain (TNP), a type of severe facial pain. The researchers applied the electrodes and electrically stimulated the brain just above the patient’s motor cortex for twenty minutes in the course of a positron emission tomography (PET). The radioactive tracer was specifically designed toindirectly measure local release in the brain of mu-opioid, a natural substance that alters the perception of pain. In order for the opioid to work it must bind to the mu opioid receptor (and the study evaluated levels of this receptor).
? We are stimulating the release of our body’s own resources in order to provide analgesia. Instead of administering more pharmaceutical opioids, we activate the same areas of the brain where they work, “clarifies DaSilva, adding that this would allow” reducing the use of opioids in general with the consequence that we avoid side effects, including addiction. ” article is published in the magazine Frontiers in Psychiatry.
In the next step, the researchers will study the long-term effects of electrical stimulation in the brain to find specific targets in the brain that may be most effective, depending on the pain condition and status of each subject. For example, the frontal areas might be better suited for chronic pain relief in patients with symptoms of depression.
