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A novel method to selectively elicit cold sensations without touch.
Ezquerra-Romano, Ivan; Chowdhury, Maansib; Leone, Caterina Maria; Iannetti, Gian Domenico; Haggard, Patrick.
Afiliación
  • Ezquerra-Romano I; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK. Electronic address: ivan.ezquerra.romano@ucl.ac.uk.
  • Chowdhury M; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
  • Leone CM; Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
  • Iannetti GD; Division of Biosciences, University College London, London, UK; Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy.
  • Haggard P; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
J Neurosci Methods ; 385: 109763, 2023 02 01.
Article en En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36476749
BACKGROUND: Thermal and tactile stimuli are transduced by different receptor classes. However, mechano- and thermo-sensitive afferents interact at spinal and supraspinal levels. Yet, most studies on responses to cooling stimuli are confounded by mechanical contact, making these interactions difficult to isolate. Methods for precise control of non-mechanical thermal stimulations remain challenging, particularly in the cold range. NEW METHOD: We developed a non-tactile, focal, temperature-controlled, multi-purpose cooling stimulator. This method controls the exposure of a target skin region to a dry-ice source. Using a thermal camera to monitor skin temperature, and adjusting the source-skin distance accordingly, we could deliver non-tactile cooling stimuli with customisable profiles, for studying different aspects of cold sensation. RESULTS: To validate our method, we measured absolute and relative thresholds for cold sensation without mechanical contact in 13 human volunteer participants, using the method of limits. We found that the absolute cold detection threshold was 32.71 oC ± 0.88 oC. This corresponded to a threshold relative to each participant's baseline skin temperature of - 1.08 oC ± 0.37 oC. COMPARISONS WITH EXISTING METHOD: Our method allows cooling stimulation without the confound of mechanical contact, in a controllable and focal manner. CONCLUSIONS: We report a non-contact cooling stimulator and accompanying control system. We used this to measure cold thresholds in the absence of confounding touch. Our method enables more targeted studies of both cold sensory pathways, and of cold-touch interactions.
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Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Base de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Tacto / Percepción del Tacto Límite: Humans Idioma: En Revista: J Neurosci Methods Año: 2023 Tipo del documento: Article Pais de publicación: Países Bajos
Texto completo
Añadir a Mi BVS
Imprimir
XML
PubMed Links
Buscar en Google

Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Base de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Tacto / Percepción del Tacto Límite: Humans Idioma: En Revista: J Neurosci Methods Año: 2023 Tipo del documento: Article Pais de publicación: Países Bajos