Tonic pain alters functional connectivity of the descending pain modulatory network involving amygdala, periaqueductal gray, parabrachial nucleus and anterior cingulate cortex.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Resting state functional connectivity (FC) is widely used to assess functional brain alterations in patients with chronic pain. However, reports of FC accompanying tonic pain in pain-free persons are rare. A network we term the Descending Pain Modulatory Network (DPMN) is implicated in healthy and pathologic pain modulation. Here, we evaluate the effect of tonic pain on FC of specific nodes of this network: anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), amygdala (AMYG), periaqueductal gray (PAG), and parabrachial nuclei (PBN).

Methods

In 50 pain-free participants (30F), we induced tonic pain using a capsaicin-heat pain model. functional MRI measured resting BOLD signal during pain-free rest with a 32 °C thermode and then tonic pain where participants experienced a previously

SUBMITTER: Meeker TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9250649 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature