MODELING AND IDENTIFICATION OF THE NOCICEPTIVE PATHWAY USING PSYCHOPHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS
Abstract
Abnormalities in the nociceptive pathway can contribute to the development of chronic pain. Sensitization is an example of malfunctioning of either peripheral or central nociceptive subsystems. Using quantitative sensory testing, one can only infer sensitization, but not determine the defective subsystem. The states of the subsystems may be characterized using computational modeling together with experimental data. Here, we consider human-subject experiments with the nociceptive detection of electrocutaneous stimulation. We developed a neurophysiologically plausible model replicating experimental observations. We retained six lumped model parameters characterizing peripheral and central mechanisms. To diagnose states of nociceptive subsystems, we have addressed the problem whether and how one can obtain reliable estimates of parameters using a limited amount of data from a 10-minute experiment.
Wednesday 29 April 2015, 16:30 - 17:30 h
Building Carré - room CR 3.718