Prefrontal Structure Varies as a Function of Pain Symptoms in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Schaaf, Marieke E. van der; Lange, Floris P. de; Schmits, Iris C.; Geurts, Dirk E. M.; Roelofs, Karin; Meer, J.W.M. van der; Toni, Ivan; Knoop, Hans

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.07.016

Cited by 28 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Patients with central post stroke pain show decreases in grey matter volume in comparison to healthy controls, involving secondary somatosensory cortex, anterior as well as posterior insular cortex, ventrolateral PFC and orbitofrontal cortex, temporal cortex, and nucleus accumbens [ 149 ]. The presence of pain symptoms is the main predictor of both grey matter volume and NAA levels in the left DLPFC of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, i.e., more pain is associated with reduced grey matter volume in these patients [ 150 ].…”

Section: Changes In the Pfc During Chronic Painmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Pain Processing

2018

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The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is not only important in executive functions, but also pain processing. The latter is dependent on its connections to other areas of the cerebral neocortex, hippocampus, periaqueductal gray (PAG), thalamus, amygdala, and basal nuclei. Changes in neurotransmitters, gene expression, glial cells, and neuroinflammation occur in the PFC during acute and chronic pain, that result in alterations to its structure, activity, and connectivity. The medial PFC (mPFC) could serve dual, opposing roles in pain: (1) it mediates antinociceptive effects, due to its connections with other cortical areas, and as the main source of cortical afferents to the PAG for modulation of pain. This is a 'loop' where, on one side, a sensory stimulus is transformed into a perceptual signal through high brain processing activity, and perceptual activity is then utilized to control the flow of afferent sensory stimuli at their entrance (dorsal horn) to the CNS. (2) It could induce pain chronification via its corticostriatal projection, possibly depending on the level of dopamine receptor activation (or lack of) in the ventral tegmental area-nucleus accumbens reward pathway. The PFC is involved in biopsychosocial pain management. This includes repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation, antidepressants, acupuncture, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, music, exercise, partner support, empathy, meditation, and prayer. Studies demonstrate the role of the PFC during placebo analgesia, and in establishing links between pain and depression, anxiety, and loss of cognition. In particular, losses in PFC grey matter are often reversible after successful treatment of chronic pain.

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Section: Changes In the Pfc During Chronic Painmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Pain Processing

2018

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“…Mean age across all studies was 40.9 years for ME/CFS patients and 39.07 years for HCs. Only 16 out of 55 papers reported a value for body mass index (BMI) or weight [11,12,[17][18][19]35,37,38,41,43,[53][54][55]. In all twin studies, levels of zygosity were assessed and ascertained at 99.9% [12,21,27].…”

Section: Participant and Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In all twin studies, levels of zygosity were assessed and ascertained at 99.9% [12,21,27]. 47 of the 55 identified papers included participants that fulfilled the requirements of being diagnosed with the Fukuda criteria [12,14,[16][17][18][19][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]30,31,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. Three of the papers used the more stringent CCC criteria to classify ME/CFS patients [15,29,42].…”

Section: Participant and Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of neurological impairments in myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome using neuroimaging techniques

et al. 2020

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Background Myalgic encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a multi-system illness characterised by a diverse range of debilitating symptoms including autonomic and cognitive dysfunction. The pathomechanism remains elusive, however, neurological and cognitive aberrations are consistently described. This systematic review is the first to collect and appraise the literature related to the structural and functional neurological changes in ME/ CFS patients as measured by neuroimaging techniques and to investigate how these changes may influence onset, symptom presentation and severity of the illness. Methods A systematic search of databases Pubmed, Embase, MEDLINE (via EBSCOhost) and Web of Science (via Clarivate Analytics) was performed for articles dating between December 1994 and August 2019. Included publications report on neurological differences in ME/CFS patients compared with healthy controls identified using neuroimaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and electroencephalography. Article selection was further refined based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. A quality assessment of included publications was completed using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. Results A total of 55 studies were included in this review. All papers assessed neurological or cognitive differences in adult ME/CFS patients compared with healthy controls using neuroimaging techniques. The outcomes from the articles include changes in gray and white matter volumes, cerebral blood flow, brain structure, sleep, EEG activity, functional connectivity

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“…The reviewed studies have used ME/CFS diagnostic criteria including CDC-Holmes criteria [7], Oxford criteria [11], CDC-Fukuda criteria [10], Canadian consensus criteria [6], Paediatric ME/CFS definition [5], Reeves criteria [9], and their combinations. Note that four studies [13][14][15][16] included in this review used a combination of CDC-Fukuda and Reeves criteria, another two studies [17,18] used a combination of CDC-Holmes and Oxford criteria. The CDC-Fukuda definition is the most frequently used (54 out of 63 articles) criteria in the articles reviewed ( Fig.…”

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuroimaging characteristics of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): a systematic review

et al. 2020

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Background: Since the 1990s, neuroimaging has been utilised to study Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), a debilitating illness with unknown aetiology. While brain abnormalities in ME/CFS have been identified, relatively little is known regarding which specific abnormalities are consistently observed across research groups and to what extent the observed abnormalities are reproducible. Method: To identify consistent and inconsistent neuroimaging observations in ME/CFS, this retrospective and systematic review searched for studies in which neuroimaging was used to investigate brain abnormalities in ME/CFS in Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed (NCBI), and Scopus from January 1988 to July 2018. A qualitative synthesis of observations was performed to identify brain abnormalities that were consistently and inconsistently reported. Results: 63 full-text articles were included in the synthesis of results from 291 identified papers. Additional brain area recruitment for cognitive tasks and abnormalities in the brain stem are frequent observations in 11 and 9 studies using different modalities from different research teams respectively. Also, sluggish blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal responses to tasks, reduced serotonin transporters, and regional hypometabolism are consistent observations by more than two research teams. Single observations include abnormal brain tissue properties, regional metabolic abnormalities, and association of brain measures with ME/CFS symptoms. Reduced resting cerebral blood flow and volumetric brain changes are inconsistent observations across different studies. Conclusion: Neuroimaging studies of ME/CFS have frequently observed additional brain area recruitment during cognitive tasks and abnormalities in the brain stem. The frequent observation of additional brain area recruitment and consistent observation of sluggish fMRI signal response suggest abnormal neurovascular coupling in ME/CFS.

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Prefrontal Structure Varies as a Function of Pain Symptoms in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Cited by 28 publications

References 58 publications

Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Pain Processing

Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Pain Processing

A systematic review of neurological impairments in myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome using neuroimaging techniques

Neuroimaging characteristics of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): a systematic review

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