Selective Laser Stimulator of C and A delta fibers

C 和 A delta 纤维的选择性激光刺激器

• 批准号: 6834056
• 负责人: Mikhail I. Nemenov
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: LASMED, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-09-20 至 2007-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6834056
• 关键词: afferent nerve; bioengineering /biomedical engineering; biomedical equipment development; clinical research; computer system design /evaluation; heat stimulus; human subject; lasers; nociceptors; pain; patient oriented research; personal computers

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this Phase I SBIR is to design, develop, build and test a new prototype of infra red laser thermal stimulator that can be used for differential activation of C and A-delta fibers (nociceptors) in humans. C and A-delta fiber nociceptors transduce and mediate pain of different sources, and are therefore responsible for carrying different types of pain information to the central nervous system. Clinical pain of different underlying pathologies can be differentially mediated by the activation of these two pain fiber types. Thus, the capacity of differential activation of C or A-delta fiber nociceptors in patients may allow for more specific diagnosis, better predictive power in pharmaceutical prescription, and better capacities to follow the clinical progress of the underlying disease. Currently, no tool is available to do the reproducible selective activation of C and A delta fibers in humans and clinically used thermal stimulators rely on electronically controlled contact heaters (Peltier thermodes). These, however, require conductive heating of pain fibers through overlying layers of skin. Similarly, laser stimulators commonly in use for research purposes (CO2 and Thullium) deposit energy entirely on the skin surface, whereas the nociceptors are located deeper in the skin. Thus, for both Peltier thermodes and these lasers, direct heating/activating of nociceptors is impossible, but requires potentially dangerous, high surface temperatures. The laser stimulation system that we propose to develop will use infrared coherent light that, due to its wavelength, allows for direct stimulation of underlying tissue that contains the nociceptor endings. Furthermore, our preliminary evidence suggests that, by altering the parameters of the laser stimulus, we can selectively activate either C or A-delta fibers, potentially allowing for a highly useful clinical tool. Thus, this proposal describes development and experimental work, which should allow for the development of a prototype stimulator that allows for selective activation of C or A-delta fibers in humans

描述（由申请人提供）：该阶段I SBIR的目标是设计，开发，构建和测试新的红色激光热刺激器的新原型，该原型可用于人类中C和A-DELTA纤维（伤害感受器）的差异激活。 C和A-DELTA纤维伤害感受器转导并介导不同来源的疼痛，因此负责将不同类型的疼痛信息携带到中枢神经系统中。通过这两种疼痛纤维类型的激活，可以差异地介导不同潜在病理的临床疼痛。因此，患者中C或A-戴尔塔纤维伤害感受器的差异激活的能力可能允许更具体的诊断，药物处方中的更好的预测能力以及遵循潜在疾病的临床进展的能力更好。当前，尚无工具可以在人类中进行C和Delta纤维的可再现选择性激活，并且临床使用的热刺激剂依赖于电子控制的接触加热器（Peltier Thermodes）。但是，这些需要通过上覆的皮肤层进行导电疼痛纤维加热。同样，通常用于研究目的的激光刺激剂（CO2和Thullium）将能量完全沉积在皮肤表面上，而伤害感受器则位于皮肤深处。因此，对于peltier热电极和这些激光器，不可能的伤害感受器的直接加热/激活是不可能的，但需要潜在危险的高表面温度。我们建议开发的激光刺激系统将使用红外相干光，由于其波长，它允许直接刺激包含伤害感受器末端的基础组织。此外，我们的初步证据表明，通过改变激光刺激的参数，我们可以选择性地激活C或A-DELTA纤维，从而有可能允许使用非常有用的临床工具。因此，该提案描述了开发和实验工作，这应该允许开发原型刺激剂，该原型刺激剂允许人类中的C或A-DELTA纤维选择性激活