• Jinhyung Kim, Sung Eun Lee, Jaewoo Shin, Hyun Ho Jung, Sung June Kim, and Jin Woo Chang.
• Brain Korea 21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ; Department of Neurosurgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• J Korean Neurosurg S. 2015 Jan 1; 57 (1): 6-11.

ObjectiveNeuropathic pain causes patients feel indescribable pain. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is one of the treatment methods in neuropathic pain but the action mechanism is still unclear. To study the effect and mechanism of analgesic effects from DBS in neuropathic pain and to enhance the analgesic effect of DBS, we stimulated the ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPL) in rats.MethodsTo observe the effect from VPL stimulation, we established 3 groups : normal group (Normal group), neuropathic pain group (Pain group) and neuropathic pain+DBS group (DBS group). Rats in DBS group subjected to electrical stimulation and the target is VPL.ResultsWe observed the behavioral changes by DBS in VPL (VPL-DBS) on neuropathic pain rats. In our study, the pain score which is by conventional test method was effectively decreased. In specific, the time of showing withdrawal response from painful stimulation which is not used measuring method in our animal model was also decreased by DBS.ConclusionThe VPL is an effective target on pain modulation. Specifically we could demonstrate changes of pain response duration which is not used, and it was also significantly meaningful. We thought that this study would be helpful in understanding the relation between VPL-DBS and neuropathic pain.

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