ArticleCommunications biology2025
Preemptive transcranial direct current stimulation mitigates susceptibility to persistent pain.
Article in Communications biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Non-invasive brain stimulation for neuropathic orofacial pain: a mini-review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Preemptive transcranial direct current stimulation mitigates susceptibility to persistent pain.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Decoding chronic pain: the glutamate-GABA tug of war in the cerebral cortex.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) exhibits potential for pain management, yet its protective efficacy against persistent pain remains underexplored. This study investigates the protective effects of preemptive tDCS over the primary motor cortex (M1) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) on mitigating capsaicin-induced persistent pain. Eighty participants underwent M1- or dlPFC-targeted tDCS before capsaicin application, with electroencephalography recorded for 60 min. Both protocols comparably reduced pain intensity, anxiety, and sensorimotor β/γ-oscillation activity. Microstate analysis identified five canonical microstates (A - E) that have been linked to auditory, visual, default-mode, dorsal attention, and salience networks. M1-tDCS decreased microstate C (self-referential processing) while enhancing microstate D (cognitive control), whereas dlPFC-tDCS suppressed microstate D activity. Mechanistically, M1-tDCS alleviated anxiety via increased D ↔ E transitions (cognitive-emotional integration), while dlPFC-tDCS attenuated pain through reduced D ↔ C shifts (cognitive-self-referential integration). These findings highlight both shared and distinct neuromodulatory effects of M1/dlPFC-tDCS, supporting their potential as preemptive strategies for persistent pain management.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.