AimDespite the importance of neonatal skin stimulation, little is known about activation of the newborn human infant brain by sensory stimulation of the skin. We carried out functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess the feasibility of measuring brain activation to a range of mechanical stimuli applied to the skin of neonatal infants.MethodsWe studied 19 term infants with a mean age of 13 days. Brain activation was measured in response to brushing, von Frey hair (vFh) punctate stimulation and, in one case, nontissue damaging pinprick stimulation of the plantar surface of the foot. Initial whole brain analysis was followed by region of interest analysis of specific brain areas.ResultsDistinct patterns of functional brain activation were evoked by brush and vFh punctate stimulation, which were reduced, but still present, under chloral hydrate sedation. Brain activation increased with increasing stimulus intensity. The feasibility of using pinprick stimulation in fMRI studies was established in one unsedated healthy full-term infant.ConclusionDistinct brain activity patterns can be measured in response to different modalities and intensities of skin sensory stimulation in term infants. This indicates the potential for fMRI studies in exploring tactile and nociceptive processing in the infant brain.
Newborn human infants display robust pain behaviour and specific cortical activity following noxious skin stimulation, but it is not known whether brain processing of nociceptive information differs in infants and adults. Imaging studies have emphasised the overlap between infant and adult brain connectome architecture, but electrophysiological analysis of infant brain nociceptive networks can provide further understanding of the functional postnatal development of pain perception. Here we hypothesise that the human infant brain encodes noxious information with different neuronal patterns compared to adults. To test this we compared EEG responses to the same time-locked noxious skin lance in infants aged 0–19 days (n = 18, clinically required) and adults aged 23–48 years (n = 21). Time-frequency analysis revealed that while some features of adult nociceptive network activity are present in infants at longer latencies, including beta-gamma oscillations, infants display a distinct, long latency, noxious evoked 18-fold energy increase in the fast delta band (2–4 Hz) that is absent in adults. The differences in activity between infants and adults have a widespread topographic distribution across the brain. These data support our hypothesis and indicate important postnatal changes in the encoding of mechanical pain in the human brain.
The dysconnection hypothesis of schizophrenia (SZ) proposes that psychosis is best understood in terms of aberrant connectivity. Specifically, it suggests that dysconnectivity arises through aberrant synaptic modulation associated with deficits in GABAergic inhibition, excitation–inhibition balance and disturbances of high-frequency oscillations. Using a computational model combined with a graded-difficulty visual orientation discrimination paradigm, we demonstrate that, in SZ, perceptual performance is determined by the balance of excitation–inhibition in superficial cortical layers. Twenty-eight individuals with a DSM-IV diagnosis of SZ, and 30 age- and gender-matched healthy controls participated in a psychophysics orientation discrimination task, a visual grating magnetoencephalography (MEG) recording, and a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) scan for GABA. Using a neurophysiologically informed model, we quantified group differences in GABA, gamma measures, and the predictive validity of model parameters for orientation discrimination in the SZ group. MEG visual gamma frequency was reduced in SZ, with lower peak frequency associated with more severe negative symptoms. Orientation discrimination performance was impaired in SZ. Dynamic causal modeling of the MEG data showed that local synaptic connections were reduced in SZ and local inhibition correlated negatively with the severity of negative symptoms. The effective connectivity between inhibitory interneurons and superficial pyramidal cells predicted orientation discrimination performance within the SZ group; consistent with graded, behaviorally relevant, disease-related changes in local GABAergic connections. Occipital GABA levels were significantly reduced in SZ but did not predict behavioral performance or oscillatory measures. These findings endorse the importance, and behavioral relevance, of GABAergic synaptic disconnection in schizophrenia that underwrites excitation–inhibition balance.
Highlights Beta rebound (PMBR) is reduced in recent-onset and established schizophrenia cases In established cases, PMBR is negatively correlated with disorganisation symptoms Hidden Markov model shows different transient pan-spectral bursts underlying PMBR.
Everyday painful experiences are usually single events accompanied by tissue damage, and yet most experimental studies of cutaneous nociceptive processing in the brain use repeated laser, thermal, or electrical stimulations that do not damage the skin. In this study the nociceptive activity in the brain evoked by tissue-damaging skin lance was analyzed with electroencephalography (EEG) in 20 healthy adult volunteers (13 men and 7 women) aged 21–40 yr. Time-frequency analysis of the evoked activity revealed a distinct late event-related vertex potential (lance event-related potential, LERP) at 100–300 ms consisting of a phase-locked energy increase between 1 and 20 Hz (delta-beta bands). A pairwise comparison between lance and sham control stimulation also revealed a period of ultralate stronger desynchronization after lance in the delta band (1–5 Hz). Skin application of mustard oil before lancing, which sensitizes a subpopulation of nociceptors expressing the cation channel TRPA1, did not affect the ultralate desynchronization but reduced the phase-locked energy increase in delta and beta bands, suggesting a central interaction between different modalities of nociceptive inputs. Verbal descriptor screening of individual pain experience revealed that lance pain is predominantly due to Aδ fiber activation, but when individuals describe lances as C fiber mediated, an ultralate delta band event-related desynchronization occurs in the brain-evoked activity. We conclude that pain evoked by acute tissue damage is associated with distinct Aδ and C fiber-mediated patterns of synchronization and desynchronization of EEG oscillations in the brain.
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