Acute and Chronic Pain Processing in the Thalamocortical System of Humans and Animal Models

Groh, Alexander; Krieger, Patrik; Mease, Rebecca A.; Henderson, Luke A.

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.09.042

Cited by 68 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 148 publications

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“…Future research based upon large sample is needed to further study the effect of the insular GM on the progression and prognosis of pain. 5 Neural Plasticity demonstrated that there were two isolated pain regulation systems in the human brain, which administers different functional responsibilities [40,41]. One system is the lateral pain system, which includes S1 and S2, and the lateral thalamic nuclei and is believed to be primarily associated with the process of the sensory discriminative aspects of pain.…”

Section: Morphological Changes Of Insular Subregions Betweenmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Reorganization of Insular Subregions in Individuals with Below-Level Neuropathic Pain following Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury

Chen

et al. 2020

Neural Plasticity

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Objective. To investigate the reorganization of insular subregions in individuals suffering from neuropathic pain (NP) after incomplete spinal cord injury (ISCI) and further to disclose the underlying mechanism of NP. Method. The 3D high-resolution T1-weighted structural images and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) of all individuals were obtained using a 3.0 Tesla MRI system. A comparative analysis of structure and function connectivity (FC) with insular subareas as seeds in 10 ISCI individuals with below-level NP (ISCI-P), 11 ISCI individuals without NP (ISCI-N), and 25 healthy controls (HCs) was conducted. Associations between the structural and functional alteration of insula subregions and visual analog scale (VAS) scores were analyzed using the Pearson correlation in SPSS 20. Results. Compared with ISCI-N patients, when the left posterior insula as the seed, ISCI-P showed increased FC in right cerebellum VIIb and cerebellum VIII, Brodmann 37 (BA 37). When the left ventral anterior insula as the seed, ISCI-P indicated enhanced FC in right BA18 compared with ISCI-N patients. These increased FCs positively correlated with VAS scores. Relative to HCs, ISCI-P presented increased FC in the left hippocampus when the left dorsal anterior insula was determined as the seed. There was no statistical difference in the volume of insula subregions among the three groups. Conclusion. Our study indicated that distinctive patterns of FC in each subregion of insula suggest that the insular subareas participate in the NP processing through different FC following ISCI. Further, insula subregions could serve as a therapeutic target for NP following ISCI.

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Section: Morphological Changes Of Insular Subregions Betweenmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Reorganization of Insular Subregions in Individuals with Below-Level Neuropathic Pain following Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury

Chen

et al. 2020

Neural Plasticity

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“…Previous studies suggested that the thalamus can be divided into several subregions in different ways [23]. For example, the thalamo-cortical pathways can be segregated into lateral and medial pathways, which are mainly involved in sensory discrimination and pain perception, respectively [24]. In addition, a previous study provided classi cation for the thalamic nuclei: sensorimotor group, limbic group, and sensorimotor/limbic bridging nuclei [25].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although increased fALFF was observed in the dorsal thalamus, we did not observe any FC changes between the dorsal thalamus and other brain regions in participants with orofacial pain. The dorsal thalamus might work as "bridging nuclei" or be associated with orofacial pain sensation considering the role of the lateral thalamus in sensory-discriminative function [24], although further research should be undertaken to investigate its exact role.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The medial thalamus plays an important role in the cognitive and emotional modulation of orofacial pain: a functional magnetic resonance imaging-based study

Jin

Yang

Zhang

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background The thalamus plays a critical role in the perception of orofacial pain. We investigated the neural mechanisms of orofacial pain by exploring the intrinsic functional alterations of the thalamus and assessing the changes in functional connectivity (FC) between the thalamic subregions with significant functional alterations and other brain regions in orofacial pain using the seed-based FC approach. Methods The study comprised 49 participants in the orofacial pain group and 49 healthy controls. Orofacial pain was caused by orthodontic separators. The resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of the two groups were analyzed to obtain the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFFs) of the thalamus, and the thalamic subregions with significant fALFF abnormalities were used as seeds for FC analysis. Student’s t-tests were used to perform comparisons. Pearson’s correlation analysis was performed using SPM software. Results Forty-four participants with orofacial pain (mean age, 21.0±0.9 years; 24 women) and 49 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (mean age, 21.0±2.6 years; 27 women) were finally included. Compared with the control group, the orofacial pain group demonstrated (1) increased function in the dorsal thalamus and decreased function in the medial thalamus; (2) decreased FC between the medial thalamus and 12 brain regions (p<0.05, family-wise error corrected, voxel>100); and (3) potential positive and negative correlations between the medial thalamus-seeded FC and visual analog scale score changes (p<0.05, AlphaSim corrected). Conclusions The findings show that the medial and dorsal thalamus play important roles in orofacial pain perception and that the medial thalamus likely plays an important role in the cognitive and emotional modulation of orofacial pain.

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“…Specifically, the thalamus receives nociceptive signals via two major ascending pathways: the spinothalamic tract (STT) and the spinoreticulothalamic tract (SRT). The STT conveys noxious information from the dorsal horn to both the lateral thalamus and medial thalamus, while the SRT mainly relays nociceptive information to the medial thalamus via an additional synaptic relay within the medullary reticular formation of the brainstem [35] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further studies suggest that the thalamo-cortical pathways / interactions may underlie the perception of pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. The lateral thalamocortical pathway is involved in coding the sensory discriminative aspects of pain, while the medial thalamocortical pathway codes the emotional qualities of pain [35] . Literature suggests that the anatomical and biochemical alterations in thalamocortical circuits may be responsible for the development of chronic pain [35][36][37] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altered hypothalamus functional connectivity with limbic system in fibromyalgia and the modulation effect of intervention

Kong¹,

Huang

Liu

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: This study aims to investigate the resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) changes of the hypothalamus in Fibromyalgia patients and the modulation effect of effective treatments. Methods: Fibromyalgia patients and matched healthy controls (HC’s) were recruited. Resting state fMRI data were collected from fibromyalgia patients before and after a 12-week Tai Chi intervention and once from HC’s. Results: Data analysis showed that fibromyalgia patients displayed significantly decreased medial hypothalamus (MH) rsFC with the thalamus and amygdala when compared to HC’s at baseline. After the intervention, fibromyalgia patients showed increased (normalized) MH rsFC in the thalamus and amygdala. Effective connectivity analysis showed disrupted MH and thalamus interaction in fibromyalgia, which nonetheless could be partially restored by Tai Chi. Conclusions: Elucidating the role of the diencephalon and limbic system in the pathophysiology and development of fibromyalgia may facilitate the development of new treatment methods for this prevalent disorder. Trial registration: Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02407665. Registered 3 April 2015 - Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02407665

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Acute and Chronic Pain Processing in the Thalamocortical System of Humans and Animal Models

Cited by 68 publications

References 148 publications

The Reorganization of Insular Subregions in Individuals with Below-Level Neuropathic Pain following Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury

The Reorganization of Insular Subregions in Individuals with Below-Level Neuropathic Pain following Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury

The medial thalamus plays an important role in the cognitive and emotional modulation of orofacial pain: a functional magnetic resonance imaging-based study

Altered hypothalamus functional connectivity with limbic system in fibromyalgia and the modulation effect of intervention

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