Naloxone-Reversible Modulation of Pain Circuitry by Left Prefrontal rTMS

A pilot study investigating the effects of fast left prefrontal rTMS on chronic neuropathic pain.

OBJECTIVE Stimulating the human cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) temporarily reduces clinical and experimental pain; however, it is unclear which cortical targets are the most effective. The motor cortex has been a popular target for managing neuropathic pain, while the prefrontal cortex has been investigated for an array of nociceptive pain conditions. It is unclear whether...

Ten sessions of adjunctive left prefrontal rTMS significantly reduces fibromyalgia pain: a randomized, controlled pilot study.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the prefrontal cortex can cause changes in acute pain perception. Several weeks of daily left prefrontal TMS has been shown to treat depression. We recruited 20 patients with fibromyalgia, defined by American College of Rheumatology criteria, and randomized them to receive 4000 pulses at 10 Hz TMS (n=10), or sham TMS (n=10) treatment for 10 sessions ov...

Editorial: Modulation of Reward Circuitry by Pain and Stress

Nicotinic modulation of descending pain control circuitry.

Along with the well-known rewarding effects, activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) can also relieve pain, and some nicotinic agonists have analgesic efficacy similar to opioids. A major target of analgesic drugs is the descending pain modulatory pathway, including the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) and the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM). Although activating nAC...

Enhancing analogic reasoning with rTMS over the left prefrontal cortex.

The authors utilized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in 16 normal volunteers to investigate the role of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) in analogic reasoning. rTMS over the left and right PFC, over the left motor cortex, and sham stimulation over the left PFC were administered during memory and analogic reasoning conditions. rTMS over the left PFC led to a sign...