Papers of the Week

Many pain biomarkers fail to move from discovery to clinical application, attributed to poor reliability and an inability to accurately classify at-risk individuals. Preliminary evidence has shown that high pain sensitivity is associated with slow peak alpha frequency (PAF), and depression of corticomotor excitability (CME), potentially due to impairments in ascending sensory signalling and descending motor pathway signalling respectively NEW METHOD: The present study evaluated the reliability of PAF and CME responses during sustained pain. Specifically, we determined whether, over several days of pain, a) PAF remains stable and b) individuals show two stable and distinct CME responses: facilitation and depression. Participants were given an injection of nerve growth factor (NGF) into the right masseter muscle on Day 0 and Day 2, inducing sustained pain. Electroencephalography (EEG) to assess PAF and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to assess CME were recorded on Day 0, Day 2 and Day 5.