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Updated: Feb 8, 2026
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Somatosensory Event-related Potentials from Orofacial Skin Stretch Stimulation
Published on: December 18, 2015
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Real-Time Cerebral Hemodynamic Response to Tactile Somatosensory Stimulation
Benjamin Hage1, Emily Way1, Steven M Barlow1,2
1Departments of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE.
Summary
Somatosensory stimulation rapidly increases cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in middle cerebral arteries (MCAs). Functional transcranial Doppler (fTCD) effectively measures these rapid hemodynamic changes, showing adaptation with repeated stimulation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cerebrovascular Physiology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Rodent studies suggest somatosensory stimulation offers neuroprotection against ischemic stroke by altering cortex-vasculature relationships.
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) shows somatosensory stimulation increases cerebral blood flow (CBF) over seconds, but subsecond changes in basal cerebral arteries remain understudied due to temporal limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize subsecond hemodynamic changes in middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) during somatosensory stimulation.
- To assess the utility of functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD) for high-temporal-resolution hemodynamic monitoring.
Main Methods:
- Pneumotactile somatosensory stimulation (punctate pressure pulses on hand) was applied to 12 subjects.
- Cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in bilateral MCAs was measured using fTCD at 100 samples/s.
- Stimulation trials (20s) were followed by rest periods (5 min).
Main Results:
- Bilateral increases in CBFV (approx. 20%) and decreases in pulsatility index (approx. 8%) were observed during stimulation.
- A left lateralization of CBFV increase (up to 3.9%) was noted.
- Significant adaptation in the magnitude of CBFV increase occurred between trials.
Conclusions:
- Pneumotactile somatosensory stimulation is a potent stimulus inducing rapid hemodynamic changes with adaptation.
- fTCD's high temporal resolution is valuable for studying rapid hemodynamic responses and parameters like pulsatility index and CBFV.
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