Thus, we investigated whether tDCS reverses the hyperalgesia and allodynia induced by chronic restraint stress. We also measured its effect on serum levels of corticosterone and interleukin-1β, as well as TNFα levels in the hippocampus. The importance of this study lies in the fact that
it provides, for the first time, evidence that tDCS can reverse the detrimental effects of a specific causal factor Gefitinib molecular weight of pain on the pain system. Because such a controlled study (i.e. one including control of level of exposure, timing of application of intervention in relation to exposure, and certain measures in the hippocampus) would not be possible in humans due to ethical issues, this study provides invaluable data for the development of tDCS as a therapeutic tool in chronic pain. When the stress group was divided into the stress, stress+sham tDCS, and stress+active tDCS groups, we again observed a significant difference between
baseline measurements in the control group and the other groups (C, 65.71±3.39 g; S, 49.07±2.63 g; SS, 45.36±3.34 g; SN, 53.10±2.23 g; one-way ANOVA/Tukey’s test, F(P=0.001, n=9–12/group, Fig. 1). We tested whether tDCS treatment was associated with a significant change in allodynia as compared with the other no-tDCS groups. selleck products We conducted an ANOVA testing group differences immediately and 24 h after treatment adjusting for baseline values (including pre-tDCS as the covariate in this ANOVA model). We did not find a significant effect of time (F(1,44)=0.05, P=0.82), neither in the interaction time⁎group (F(3,44)=1.89, P=0.14), suggesting that after treatment, there was
no differences in group behavior over time. But, we found a significant effect of group (F(3,44)=3.87, P=0.015) considering results after treatment. Post hoc analysis confirmed that SN group showed significant differences as compared with SS group (P=0.028). Interestingly, the difference between SN and C that we observed at baseline disappeared after tDCS treatment, confirming that after tDCS, animals’ behavior were similar to the non-stress control group. Although there was also a difference between S and C (P=0.012), there was no difference between S and SN (P=0.28), suggesting eltoprazine likely a lack of power for this later analysis. We then performed similar analysis for the hot plate test. We initially tested whether tDCS treatment was associated with a significant change in hyperalgesia as compared with the other no-tDCS groups (C, 5.75+0.41 s; S, 2.70±0.15 s; SS, 3.08±0.90 s; SN, 3.62±0.59 s; one-way ANOVA/Tukey’s test, F(P=0.000, n=9–12/group, Fig. 2). Same ANOVA controlled for baseline differences disclosed similar findings: no significant effect of time (F(1,44=3.90), P=0.054) and no significant interaction time⁎group (F(3,44)=0.31, P=0.7320, suggesting that after treatment, there was no differences in group behavior over time. But, we found a significant effect of group (F(9,42)=7.