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Influence of modafinil on somatosensory input processing in the human brain-stem
Giacomo Della Marca1, Domenico Restuccia, Marco Rubino
1Department of Neurosciences, Cathodic University, L. go A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy. dellamarca@rm.unicatt.it
Objective:
Since high frequency oscillations (HFOs) evoked by upper limb stimulation are susceptible to arousal fluctuation, we verified whether administration of modafinil, a vigilance promoting drug, modifies such responses at different levels of the somatosensory system.
Methods:
HFOs were obtained in 6 healthy volunteers by 500-700 Hz filtering of right median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials, before and 2 hours after the administration of 100 mg modafinil. Raw data were further submitted to brain electrical source analysis.
Results:
Modafinil significantly increased subcortical HFOs, as well as the strength of a dipolar source at the base of the skull.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest that modafinil exerts its action also at the level of the brain-stem, where it interferes with the processing of somatosensory ascending inputs.