Contact Heat and Cold Evoked Potentials

De Keyser R., van den Broeke E., Courtin A., Dufour A., Mouraux A. (2018). Event-related brain potentials elicited by high-speed cooling of the skin: A robust and non-painful method to assess the spinothalamic system in humans. Clinical Neurophysiology. 129(5), 1011-1019. 

"We show in healthy participants that brisk non-painful cooling of the skin using a very steep cooling ramp can be used to elicit event-related potentials having a high signal-to-noise ratio. Because these responses are related to the selective activation of cool-sensitive Aδ-fiber free nerve endings whose inputs are conveyed by the spinothalamic tract, these responses could be used as a robust tool to test the function of the spinothalamic system in humans.”

Lenoir C., Algoet M. & Mouraux A. (2018). Deep continuous theta burst stimulation of the opercula-insular cortex selectively affects Adelta fibre heat pain. The Journal of Physiology. 596(19), 4767-4787.

Mulders D., de Bodt C., Lejeune N., Courtin A., Liberati G., Verleysen M., Mouraux A. (2020). Dynamics of perception and EEG signals triggered by tonic warm and cool stimulation. Plos One, 15(4).

van Neerven S.G.A. and Mouraux A. (2020). Capsaicin-induced skin desensitization differentially affects A-delta and C-fiber-mediated heat sensitivity. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 11, 1-15

Leone C., Di Lionardo A., Diotallevi G., Mollico C, Di Pietro G., Di Stephano G., La Cesa S., Cruccu G., Truini A. (2020). Conduction velocity of the cold spinal pathway in healthy humans. European Journal of Pain. Online ahead of print doi: 10.1002/ejp.1640.

Liberati G., Mulders D., Algoed M., van den Broeke E., Ferrao Santos S., Géraldo Ribeiro Vaz J., Raftopoulos C., Mouraux A. (2020). Insular response to transient painful and non-painful thermal and mechanical spinothalamic stimuli recorded using intracerebral EEG. Scientific Reports. 10:22319, 1-14.

Courtin A. & Mouraux A. (2021). Combining Topical Agonists With the Recording of Event-Related Brain Potentials to Probe the Functional Involvement of TRPM8, TRPA1 and TRPV1 in Heat and Cold Transduction in the Human Skin. The Journal of Pain. Epub, 1-18.

De Schoenmacker I., Archibald J., Kramer J.L.K. & Hubli M. (2022). Improved acquisition of contact heat evoked potentials with increased heating ramp. Scientific Reports, 12, 925.

Fabig S.C, Kersebaum D., Lassen J., Sendel Manon, Jendral S., Muntan A., Baron R. & Hüllemann P. (2021). A modality-specific somatosensory evoked potential test protocol for clinical evaluation: A feasibility study. Clinical Neurophysiology. 132, 3104-3115.

Clinical applications

High sensitivity QST with the adaptive staircase method

Lithfous S., Després O, Pebayle T. & Dufour A. (2019). Modification of descending analgesia in aging: critical role of the prefrontal cortex.Clinical Journal of Pain. 35(1), 23-30. 

Després O, Lithfous S, Pebayle T. Casadio C. & Dufour A. (2019). Effects of thermosensory aging well demonstrated by cold stimulation with high temporal resolution.Muscle Nerve. 60(2)., 141-146.

Lithfous S., Després O., Pebayle T., Casadio C. & Dufour A. (2020). Accurate determination of the cold detection threshold with high-speed cooling of the skin. Pain Medicine. online ahead of print.

Modeling of thermal diffusion in the skin

Dufour A., Després O, Pebayle T. & Lithfous S. (2020). Thermal sensitivity in humans at the depth of thermal receptor endings beneath the skin: validation of a heat transfer model of the skin using high-temporal resolution stimuli. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 120, 1509-1518.

Animal Research

Gieré C., Melchior M., Dufour A., Poisbeau P. (2021).  Spinal integration of hot and cold nociceptive stimuli by wide dynamic range neurons in anesthetized adult rats. Pain Reports. Epub.