From perception threshold to ion channels - a computational study (Biophysical Journal)

Small surface area electrodes have successfully been used to preferentially activate cutaneous nociceptors, unlike conventional large area electrodes which preferentially activate large non-nociceptor fibers. Assessments of the strength duration relationship, threshold electrotonus, and slowly increasing pulse forms have displayed different perception thresholds between large and small surface electrodes, which may indicate different excitability properties of the activated cutaneous nerves. In the current study, the origin of the differences in perception thresholds between the two electrodes was investigated.