Cerebral processing of sharp mechanical pain measured with arterial spin labeling

Brain and Behavior

Marius Schmitz¹  Gabriele Ende²  Matthias Ruf²  Traute Demirakca²  Vita Cardinale³  Tobias Gradinger³  Markus Sack³  Ulf Baumgärtner⁴  Christian Schmahl⁵  Nikolaus Kleindienst⁶ 

[1] Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine University of Heidelberg Heidelberg Germany;Department of Neuroimaging and Core Facility ZIPP, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University Mannheim Germany;Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University Mannheim Germany;Department of Neurophysiology, Mannheim Center for Translational Neuroscience (MTCN), Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University Mannheim Germany;Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University Mannheim Germany;Institute of Psychiatric and Psychosomatic Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University Mannheim Germany;

关键词: acute pain;    cerebral blood flow;    functional neuroimaging;    perfusion;   

DOI  :  10.1002/brb3.2442

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Introduction Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is a functional neuroimaging technique that has been frequently used to investigate acute pain states. A major advantage of ASL as opposed to blood‐oxygen‐level‐dependent functional neuroimaging is its applicability for low‐frequency designs. As such, ASL represents an interesting option for studies in which repeating an experimental event would reduce its ecological validity. Whereas most ASL pain studies so far have used thermal stimuli, to our knowledge, no ASL study so far has investigated pain responses to sharp mechanical pain. Methods As a proof of concept, we investigated whether ASL has the sensitivity to detect brain activation within core areas of the nociceptive network in healthy controls following a single stimulation block based on 96 s of mechanical painful stimulation using a blunt blade. Results We found significant increases in perfusion across many regions of the nociceptive network such as primary and secondary somatosensory cortices, premotor cortex, posterior insula, inferior parietal cortex, parietal operculum, temporal gyrus, temporo‐occipital lobe, putamen, and the cerebellum. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find any significant increase within ACC, thalamus, or PFC. Moreover, we were able to detect a significant positive correlation between pain intensity ratings and pain‐induced perfusion increase in the posterior insula. Conclusion We demonstrate that ASL is suited to investigate acute pain in a single event paradigm, although to detect activation within some regions of the nociceptive network, the sensitivity of our paradigm seemed to be limited. Regarding the posterior insula, our paradigm was sensitive enough to detect a correlation between pain intensity ratings and pain‐induced perfusion increase. Previous experimental pain studies have proposed that intensity coding in this region may be restricted to thermal stimulation. Our result demonstrates that the posterior insula encodes intensity information for mechanical stimuli as well.

【 授权许可】

Unknown