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Caloric vestibular stimulation modulates nociceptive evoked potentials

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Abstract

Vestibular stimulation has been reported to alleviate central pain. Clinical and physiological studies confirm pervasive interactions between vestibular signals and somatosensory circuits, including nociception. However, the neural mechanisms underlying vestibular-induced analgesia remain unclear, and previous clinical studies cannot rule out explanations based on alternative, non-specific effects such as distraction or placebo. To investigate how vestibular inputs influence nociception, we combined caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS) with psychophysical and electrocortical responses elicited by nociceptive-specific laser stimulation in humans (laser-evoked potentials, LEPs). Cold water CVS applied to the left ear resulted in significantly lower subjective pain intensity for experimental laser pain to the left hand immediately after CVS, relative both to before CVS and to 1 h after CVS. This transient reduction in pain perception was associated with reduced amplitude of all LEP components, including the early N1 wave reflecting the first arrival of nociceptive input to primary somatosensory cortex. We conclude that cold left ear CVS elicits a modulation of both nociceptive processing and pain perception. The analgesic effect induced by CVS could be mediated either by subcortical gating of the ascending nociceptive input, or by direct modulation of the primary somatosensory cortex.

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Abbreviations

CVS:

Caloric vestibular stimulation

LEPs:

Laser-evoked potentials

PIVC:

Parietoinsular vestibular cortex

SEPs:

Somatosensory-evoked potentials

ERPs:

Event-related potentials

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Wellcome Trust Project Grant 094863/Z/10/Z to GDI and PH. EF was supported by a BIAL Foundation bursary. PH was additionally supported by a Major Research Fellowship from Leverhulme Trust, by EU project VERE (WP1), by ERC Advanced Grant HUMVOL, and by an ESRC Professorial Research Fellowship. GDI is University Research Fellow of The Royal Society and acknowledges the support of The Wellcome Trust.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK

    Elisa Raffaella Ferrè & Patrick Haggard

  2. Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Gabriella Bottini

  3. Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Niguarda Ca’ Granda Hospital, Milan, Italy

    Gabriella Bottini

  4. Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, London, UK

    Gian Domenico Iannetti

Authors
  1. Elisa Raffaella Ferrè
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  2. Patrick Haggard
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  3. Gabriella Bottini
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  4. Gian Domenico Iannetti
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Correspondence to Elisa Raffaella Ferrè.

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Ferrè, E.R., Haggard, P., Bottini, G. et al. Caloric vestibular stimulation modulates nociceptive evoked potentials. Exp Brain Res 233, 3393–3401 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4412-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4412-8

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