{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T13:37:01Z","timestamp":1785418621009,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,25]],"date-time":"2026-04-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777075200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, McGovern Medical School"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03gds6c39","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Bioengineering"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Breathing-controlled electrical stimulation (BreEStim) is an innovative neuromodulation intervention that synchronizes deep voluntary breathing with peripheral electrical stimulation. Prior studies have shown its analgesic effects in healthy adults and spinal cord injury patients with neuropathic pain. The present study used EEG to examine BreEStim\u2019s neural effects on sensory, affective, and cognitive components of pain. Fourteen healthy participants (7 M, 7 F) completed 30 min of BreEStim and conventional electrical stimulation (EStim) interventions in a randomized, crossover within-subject design. Electrical pain thresholds (EPT) and EEG were recorded pre- and post-intervention. Event-related potentials (ERPs) at pre-EPT-level stimuli before and immediately after each intervention were analyzed for early sensory (P30) and affective (P250) processing, while resting-state EEG assessed spectral power across delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands for cognitive processing. Both BreEStim and EStim increased EPT, indicating short-term habituation. There was no change in early ERP responses (P30) after each intervention, suggesting preserved sensory perception. BreEStim selectively reduced P250, reflective of the affective component of pain. BreEStim significantly increased delta and theta band power and reduced alpha band power on resting-state EEG analyses, whereas no significant changes after EStim were observed. Collectively, BreEStim preserves sensory encoding while selectively modulating affective and cognitive dimensions of pain, supporting its potential as a targeted, non-pharmacological neuromodulation strategy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bioengineering13050501","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T07:43:51Z","timestamp":1777448631000},"page":"501","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Breathing-Controlled Electrical Stimulation (BreEStim) Selectively Modulates Affective and Cognitive Components of Pain\u2014An EEG Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0301-1309","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmad Z.","family":"Rao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"},{"name":"TIRR Memorial Hermann, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1951-084X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Houston","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6749-7512","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hao","family":"Meng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"},{"name":"TIRR Memorial Hermann, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shengai","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"},{"name":"TIRR Memorial Hermann, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1927-4103","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yingchun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA"},{"name":"Desai Sethi Urology Institute, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33136, USA"},{"name":"Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33136, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sheng","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"},{"name":"TIRR Memorial Hermann, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Casey, K.L. 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