Background & Aims
The LFP is known to demonstrate the activity of neurons around the recording electrode in a localized area (Zhang et al., 2018), and can be subdivided into five frequency bands of delta (0.1 – 3 Hz), theta (3 – 7 Hz), alpha (7 – 12 Hz), beta (12 – 30 Hz), and gamma (30 – 100 Hz) (Marzbani et al., 2016). Furthermore, formalin injections through the paw in rats has been widely utilized in pain models to assess pain and analgesia (Dubuisson & Dennis, 1977). For many decades, ECT has been used as a treatment in individuals with mood and psychotic disorders who have shown a resistance to previous treatments (Espinoza & Kellner, 2022). The purpose of this proposed study is to determine the effect of ECT on LFP activities from various brain regions responding to nociceptive stimuli in anesthetized animals as well as freely-moving behavioral animals. The hypothesis is that ECT will suppress pain, as indicated by reduced LFP power, by activation of the descending inhibitory system.
Methods
Continuous LFP was recorded in the male adult Sprague-Dawley rat brain from intracranially implanted electrodes in the ACC, bilateral amygdala, and VTA. Under isoflurane anesthesia, the LFP was recorded in 3 separate formalin-induced nociceptive conditions: formalin-only (control condition, 3% 50 µl), ECT post-formalin, and ECT pre-formalin. The multi-ECT shock remained consistent in both ECT experimental conditions with 3 separate parameters of 50pulse/s, 0.7ms, 2s at 5mA, 20mA, and 50mA delivered 3 times, 10-15s apart. In addition, formalin behavioral testing was conducted in freely-moving rats. In one condition, under brief 2% isoflurane, 3% 50 µl formalin was injected into the left hind paw and then immediately given 3 ECT stimulations at 50 pulses/s, 0.7ms, 50mA for 2-seconds, each stimulation given 10-15s apart. In the second condition, the parameters remained the same, although, the set of 3 ECT stimulations was administered first, immediately followed by formalin injection.
Results
After using power spectrum analysis, a mixed effect was revealed: (1) ECT-induced inhibition, excitation, or no change. The change of LFP power also varies among these four locations, even within the same rat. Furthermore, the ECT-induced increase or decrease of power has a short duration of a few seconds to a few minutes. The sensitivity to isoflurane that determines the depth of anesthesia may play a role in causing this variability. (2) Results from the behavioral testing reveal a significant decrease in pain-score when ECT is administered, specifically between the 30 to 55 min post-formalin, without a difference in the sequencing of formalin-ECT or ECT-formalin. This data reveals that ECT significantly suppresses formalin response.
Conclusions
The LFP and behavioral results demonstrate that ECT evokes an anti-nociceptive effect.
References
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Presenting Author
Julieta Trejo
Poster Authors
Topics
- Mechanisms: Biological-Systems (Physiology/Anatomy)