Background: Although current pain-evoked electroencephalographic (EEG) studies provide valuable information regarding human brain regions involved in pain, they have mostly considered neuronal responses which oscillate in phase following a painful event. In many instances, cortical neurons respond by generating bursts of activity that are slightly out of phase from trial-to-trial. These types of activity bursts are known as induced brain responses. The significance of induced brain responses to pain is still unknown. Methods: In this study, 23 healthy subjects were given both non-painful and painful transcutaneous electrical stimulations in separate testing blocks (stimulation strength was kept constant within blocks). Subjective intensity was rated using a numerical rating scale, while cerebral activity tied to each stimulation was measured using EEG recordings. Induced brain responses were identified using a time frequency wavelet transform applied to average-removed single trials. Results: Results showed a pain-specific burst of induced theta activity occurring between 180 and 500 ms post-shock onset. Source current density estimations located this activity within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, bilaterally), however, only right DLPFC activity predicted a decrease in subjective pain as testing progressed. Conclusion: This finding suggests that non-phase locked neuronal responses in the right DLPFC contribute to the endogenous attenuation of pain through time. Perspective: This article presents neuroimaging findings demonstrating that, in response to pain, non-phase locked bursts of theta activity located in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are associated with a progressive decrease in subjective pain intensity, which has potentially important implications regarding how humans endogenously control their experiences of pain. RÉSUMÉ: Signification de l'activité cérébrale induite en réponse aux stimuli douloureux. Contexte: Bien que les études électroencéphalographiques concernant la réponse à la douleur fournissent des informations précieuses sur les régions du cerveau humain impliquées dans la perception de la douleur, elles portent surtout sur les réponses neuronales qui oscillent en phase après un événement douloureux. Dans plusieurs cas, les neurones corticaux répondent en générant de l'activité qui est légèrement déphasée d'une fois à l'autre. Ce type d'activité est appelé réponse cérébrale induite. La signification des réponses cérébrales induites par un évènement douloureux demeure inconnue. Méthode: Cette étude porte sur 23 sujets sains soumis à des blocs séparés de stimulation électrique transcutanée non douloureuse et douloureuse. La force de la stimulation demeurait constante à l'intérieur de chacun des blocs de stimulation. Une échelle d'évaluation numérique a été utilisée pour estimer l'intensité de la stimulation ressentie par le sujet pendant que l'activité cérébrale liée à chaque stimulation était mesurée par enregistrement ÉEG. Les réponses cérébrales induites ont ét...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.