Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, acupuncture, and spinal cord stimulation on neuropathic, inflammatory and, non-inflammatory pain in rat models

Sato KL, Sanada LS, Silva MD, Okubo R, Sluka KA · The Korean Journal of Pain · 2020 April 01

DOI 10.3344/kjp.2020.33.2.121

Objective

To investigate and compare the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, manual acupuncture, and spinal cord stimulation on neuropathic, inflammatory, and non-inflammatory pain models in rats.

Conclusions

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and spinal cord stimulation produce similar effects in neuropathic, inflammatory, and non-inflammatory muscle pain models, whereas manual acupuncture is effective only in inflammatory and neuropathic pain models.

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Insights

Electrical nerve and spinal cord stimulation relieved all tested pain types, whereas manual acupuncture did not relieve non-inflammatory muscle pain.

Researchers compared electrical nerve stimulation, spinal cord stimulation, and manual acupuncture in rats with nerve injury, knee inflammation, or persistent non-inflammatory muscle pain. They measured sensitivity to mechanical stimulation before and after inducing each pain condition, then assessed changes in withdrawal thresholds before and after daily treatment. Electrical nerve stimulation and spinal cord stimulation reversed pain-related mechanical sensitivity across nerve injury, inflammatory joint pain, and non-inflammatory muscle pain. Manual acupuncture improved sensitivity in nerve injury and joint inflammation but showed no benefit for persistent non-inflammatory muscle pain, indicating that these treatments do not act equivalently across pain mechanisms.