Anodal transspinal Direct Current Stimulation (tsDCS) has been suggested as a means to treat neuropathic pain by reducing pain signalling/processing and Laser Evoked Potentials (LEPs) likewise as a method to evaluate such reduction. However, results in previous studies are disagreeing. To evaluate these claims using rigorous methodology, LEPs were evoked from hands and feet in healthy volunteers. The N2 potential and three psychophysic parameters (general- and pinprick pain, warmth) were used to evaluate the signalling and appreciation of pain respectively. This was made at three time points; at baseline, directly- and 30 min after low thoracic tsDCS (20 min, 2.5 mA, cathode on shoulder). The study was randomized, cross over, double blinded and placebo controlled.

At the group level, low thoracic anodal tsDCS produced reduced perceptions of all three tested pain qualities from the foot (p < 0.05 – p < 0.001). These reductions began during stimulation and became more pronounced during the 30 min after its cessation (p < 0.05 – p < 0.01). The LEP parameter alteration mirroring these changes was latency prolongation (p < 0.05 – p < 0.001) whereas amplitude reductions were in par with placebo stimulation. Similar but less pronounced and only transient (during stimulation, p < 0.05 – p < 0.001) changes, were seen for hand stimulation. The interindividual variation was large.

The findings indicate that anodal tsDCS may become a technique to treat neuropathic pain by reducing pain signalling/processing and LEPs likewise a method to evaluate such reduction.

有人建议通过经鼻肛门直流电刺激（tsDCS）作为减轻疼痛信号/处理和激光诱发电位（LEPs）来治疗神经性疼痛的一种方法，以此作为评估减轻疼痛的方法。但是，先前的研究结果并不相同。为了使用严格的方法评估这些主张，健康志愿者的手脚诱发了LEP。使用N2电位和三个心理生理参数（一般和针刺痛，温暖）分别评估疼痛的信号传递和欣赏度。这是在三个时间点完成的；在基线，低胸tsDCS后直接和30分钟（20分钟，2.5 mA，肩头阴极）。该研究是随机，交叉，双盲和安慰剂对照的。

在小组水平上，低胸椎肛门tsDCS使脚部对所有三种测试疼痛质量的知觉降低（p <0.05 – p <0.001）。这些减少在刺激过程中开始，并在停止后的30分钟内更加明显（p <0.05 – p <0.01）。反映这些变化的LEP参数改变是潜伏期延长（p <0.05 – p <0.001），而幅度降低与安慰剂刺激相当。对于手部刺激，观察到相似但不太明显的变化，只是短暂的（在刺激期间，p <0.05 – p <0.001）变化。的个体差异很大。

这些发现表明，阳极tsDCS可能成为通过减轻疼痛信号/处理而治疗神经性疼痛的技术，而LEPs同样是评估这种减轻的方法。