Graduation Semester and Year

Spring 2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Yuan Bo Peng

Second Advisor

Stephen Lomber

Third Advisor

Crystal Cooper

Abstract

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an established neuromodulatory intervention used to treat severe psychiatric conditions and is known to briefly affect memory function. Given that chronic pain affects millions and often leads to opioid dependence, ECT has been investigated to treat chronic pain. This study examined how electroconvulsive stimulation (ECS), the experimental equivalent of ECT used in animal models, alters or reduces pain-related brain neural activity associated with maladaptive pain-related memory circuit representations. The hypothesis is that ECS will disrupt or reduce neural activity associated with pain-related memory circuits, potentially revealing neural mechanisms that link pain and memory circuits through neuromodulation. LFP activity was recorded from four brain regions involved in pain and memory processing: the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right central amygdala (R-CeA), and hippocampal subregions CA1 and CA3. Recordings were obtained under isoflurane anesthesia during two experimental conditions: formalin-induced nociceptive stimulation and ECS administered following formalin injection. Neural activity was analyzed across five frequency bands (delta: 0.3–3 Hz; theta: 3–7 Hz; alpha: 7–12 Hz; beta: 12–30 Hz; gamma: 30–100 Hz). Formalin (50 µL, 3%) was injected into the left hind paw to induce sustained nociceptive input. ECS was delivered using parameters of 50 pulses/s, 0.7 ms pulse width, 2 s duration at 50 mA, administered three times with 10 s intervals. The results indicate that the formalin injection increases power in all four brain regions across five frequency bands. The application of ECS after formalin injection displays a facilitation across all four brain regions in the five frequency bands. These effects did not support the original hypothesis. Further investigation into freely moving animals is needed to better understand ECS on LFP activity.

Keywords

Electroconvulsive stimulation; pain; formalin model; local field potential

Disciplines

Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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