ABSTRACT
Clinical studies and animal experiments have demonstrated an antinociceptive effect of auricular electrostimulation (AE), 15 Hz, 300 microA, 25 min, on toothache. Perceptual and emotional vegetative components of the painful reaction were reduced by AE in 60 percent of patients and 64 percent of animals. Intravenous naloxone (0.2 mg/kg) abolished AE analgetic effect. The absence of AE analgetic effect in 40 percent of patients and 36 percent of animals can be explained by individual features of the endogenic opioid system functioning. Prospects of AE clinical application with various stimulation frequencies are discussed.
Subject(s)
Anesthesia, Dental/instrumentation , Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation/instrumentation , Anesthesia, Dental/methods , Animals , Dental Pulp/drug effects , Dental Pulp/physiology , Ear, External , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory/drug effects , Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory/physiology , Humans , Male , Naloxone/pharmacology , Rabbits , Sensory Thresholds/drug effects , Sensory Thresholds/physiology , Toothache/physiopathology , Toothache/psychology , Toothache/therapy , Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation/methodsABSTRACT
Auriculo-acupuncture electrostimulation (AES) (15 H2) decreased the amplitude of somatosensory evoked potential (EP) in response to tooth pulp electrostimulation in 64% of acupuncture-sensitive unanesthetized rabbits and didn't induce the changes of EP in 36% of animals (acupuncture-resistant rabbits). The systemic naloxone (0.2 mg/kg) injection reversed the AES analgetic effect and induced the hyperalgesic one in acupuncture-sensitive rabbits but induced the analgetic effect in acupuncture-resistant animals. It has been suggested that the differences of individual characteristics of endogenous opioid system determined different naloxone action in acupuncture-sensitive and acupuncture-resistant rabbits.
