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4/5/16, 5:21 PMElectrical stimulation of deep brain structures to ease chronic pain | Science Codex
Page 1 of 2http://www.sciencecodex.com/electrical_stimulation_of_deep_brain_structures_to_ease_chronic_pain-179338
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Electrical stimulation of deep brain structures to ease chronic painposted by news on april 4, 2016 - 3:33pm
Tweet Abuse of prescription opioid medicines used to treat chronic pain hasreached epidemic proportions, so much that the White House hasannounced new efforts to combat addiction and prevent the thousands ofoverdose-related deaths reported in the U.S. each year.
But a University of Texas at Arlington research team has been working onan alternative solution: electrical stimulation of a deep, middle brainstructure that blocks pain signals at the spinal cord level without drugintervention. The process also triggers the release of beneficial dopamine,which may reduce the emotional distress associated with long-term pain,researchers said.
"This is the first study to use a wireless electrical device to alleviate pain by directly stimulating the ventraltegmental area of the brain," said Yuan Bo Peng, UTA psychology professor. "While still under laboratorytesting, this new method does provide hope that in the future we will be able to alleviate chronic painwithout the side effects of medications."
Yuan Bo Peng is a UTA psychology professor. Credit: UTA
Peng and J.-C. Chiao, an electrical engineering professor, detail their discoveries in a new paper publishedin the leading neuroscience journal Experimental Brain Research. Professor Xiaofei Yang, an electricalengineering professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China alsoparticipated in the study.
The project was supported partly by grants received from the Texas Norman Hackerman AdvancedResearch Program, Intel Corp. and the Texas Medical Research Collaborative, a research partnershipamong universities, health care providers and corporations that gives grants to jump-start researcharound real-world problems.
Nearly two million Americans abused or were dependent on opioid medicines in 2014, and 165,000 diedbetween 1999 and 2014 from overdoses related to opioid prescriptions, according to the Centers forDisease Control.
In their experiments, Peng and Chiao used their patented custom-designed wireless device to demonstratethat stimulation of the ventral tegmental area reduced the sensation of pain. They also confirmed that thisstimulation reduced pain signals in the spinal cord, effectively blocking the perception of pain.
Morteza Khaledi, dean of the UTA's College of Science, commended the researchers on this importantwork.
"Solutions for chronic pain are at the forefront of current medical research," Khaledi said. "Dr. Peng andDr. Chiao's research is high-impact work focused on health and the human condition, a key theme withinUTA's Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact."
Chiao has constant pain from slipped discs and pinched nerves in his neck and also witnessed his unclesuffer after chemotherapy for prostate cancer. His uncle used an early implant device to electricallystimulate his spinal cord and relieve the pain. The technology was the best available, but he had tomanually change the stimulation dosages every 15 minutes, and suffered without much sleep before hepassed away.
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4/5/16, 5:21 PMElectrical stimulation of deep brain structures to ease chronic pain | Science Codex
Page 2 of 2http://www.sciencecodex.com/electrical_stimulation_of_deep_brain_structures_to_ease_chronic_pain-179338
These difficult experiences have fueled Chiao and Peng's decade-long commitment to finding a solutionfor chronic pain by devising advanced wireless implants that take patients out of the equation, treatingtheir pain in the background as they go on with their lives. Dr. Peng initiated the idea and worked withChiao, Yang and other researchers to develop new technology, methods and knowledge across disciplines.
Chiao earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from California Institute of Technology and holdsseveral patents, including in the area of wireless medical sensor technologies. Currently, he is the Janetand Mike Greene Endowed Professor and Jenkins Garrett endowed Professor of Electrical Engineeringand Joint Biomedical Engineering Program at UTA.
Peng has specialized in pain relief throughout his career. He was a medical doctor and holds a doctorate inneuroscience from University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He has held postdoctoral fellowshipsfocused on pain at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, as well as the National Institute of Dental andCraniofacial Research, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Health and HumanServices.
Other participants in this research were Ai-Ling Li, a postdoctoral fellow in Indiana University whoearned her psychology doctorate with Peng at UTA, and Jiny Sibi, a medical student at the University ofTexas Medical Branch in Galveston, who was previously an undergraduate student in Peng's laboratory atUTA.
"Until this study, the ventral segmental area of the brain was studied more for its key role in positivereinforcement, reward and drug abuse," said Peng. "We have now confirmed that stimulation of this areaof the brain can also be an analgesic tool."
source: University of Texas at Arlington
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