PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Yang, Fei
AU  - Anderson, Michael
AU  - He, Shaoqiu
AU  - Stephens, Kimberly
AU  - Zheng, Yu
AU  - Chen, Zhiyong
AU  - Raja, Srinivasa N.
AU  - Aplin, Felix
AU  - Guan, Yun
AU  - Fridman, Gene
TI  - Differential expression of voltage-gated sodium channels in afferent neurons renders selective neural block by ionic direct current
AID  - 10.1126/sciadv.aaq1438
DP  - 2018 Apr 01
TA  - Science Advances
PG  - eaaq1438
VI  - 4
IP  - 4
4099  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/4/eaaq1438.short
4100  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/4/eaaq1438.full
SO  - Sci Adv2018 Apr 01; 4
AB  - The assertion that large-diameter nerve fibers have low thresholds and small-diameter fibers have high thresholds in response to electrical stimulation has been held in a nearly axiomatic regard in the field of neuromodulation and neuroprosthetics. In contrast to the short pulses used to evoke action potentials, long-duration ionic direct current has been shown to block neural activity. We propose that the main determinant of the neural sensitivity to direct current block is not the size of the axon but the types of voltage-gated sodium channels prevalent in its neural membrane. On the basis of the variants of voltage-gated sodium channels expressed in different types of neurons in the peripheral nerves, we hypothesized that the small-diameter nociceptive fibers could be preferentially blocked. We show the results of a computational model and in vivo neurophysiology experiments that offer experimental validation of this novel phenomenon.