Brain activity associated with pain in inherited erythromelalgia: stimulus-free pain engages brain areas involved in valuation and learning.

ABSTRACT: Inherited erythromelalgia (IEM) is a chronic pain disorder caused by gain-of-function mutations of peripheral sodium channel Nav1.7, in which warmth triggers severe pain. Little is known about the brain representation of pain in IEM. Here we study two subjects with the IEM Nav1.7-S241T mutation using functional brain imaging (fMRI). Subjects were scanned during each of five visits. During each scan, pain was first triggered using a warming boot and subjects rated their thermal-heat pain. Next, the thermal stimulus was terminated and subjects rated stimulus-free pain. Last, subjects performed a control visual rating task. Thermal-heat induced pain mapped to the frontal gyrus, ventro-medial prefrontal cortex, superior parietal lobule, supplementary motor area, insula, primary and secondary s

SUBMITTER: Geha P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6505710 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan-Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature