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Cerebrovascular responses of the rat brain to noxious stimuli as examined by functional near-infrared whole brain imaging.

ABSTRACT: While near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been increasingly used to detect stimulated brain activities with an advantage of dissociating regional oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations simultaneously, it has not been utilized much in pain research. Here, we investigated and demonstrated the feasibility of using this technique to obtain whole brain hemodynamics in rats and speculated on the functional relevance of the NIR-based hemodynamic signals during pain processing. NIR signals were emitted and collected using a 26-optodes array on rat's dorsal skull surface after the removal of skin. Following the subcutaneous injection of formalin (50 ?l, 3%) into a hindpaw, several isolable brain regions showed hemodynamic changes, including the anterior cingulate cortex, primary/secondary somatosensory cortexes, thalamus, and periaqueductal gray (n = 6). Time courses of hemodynamic changes in respective regions matched with the well-documented biphasic excitatory response. Surprisingly, an atypical pattern (i.e., a decrease in oxyhemoglobin concentration with a concomitant increase in deoxyhemoglobin concentration) was seen in phase II. In a separate group of rats with innocuous brush and noxious pinch of the same area (n = 11), results confirmed that the atypical pattern occurred more likely in the presence of nociception than nonpainful stimulation, suggesting it as a physiological substrate when the brain processes pain. In conclusion, the NIR whole brain imaging provides a useful alternative to study pain in vivo using small-animal models. Our results support the notion that neurovascular response patterns depend on stimuli, bringing attention to the interpretation of vascular-based neuroimaging data in studies of pain.

SUBMITTER: He JW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3362286 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cerebrovascular responses of the rat brain to noxious stimuli as examined by functional near-infrared whole brain imaging.

He Ji-Wei JW Tian Fenghua F Liu Hanli H Peng Yuan Bo YB

Journal of neurophysiology 20120229 10

While near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been increasingly used to detect stimulated brain activities with an advantage of dissociating regional oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations simultaneously, it has not been utilized much in pain research. Here, we investigated and demonstrated the feasibility of using this technique to obtain whole brain hemodynamics in rats and speculated on the functional relevance of the NIR-based hemodynamic signals during pain processing. NIR signals were emitte ...[more]

PMID: 22378174

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Project description:ImportanceFunctional neuroimaging is a valuable tool for understanding how patients with chronic pain respond to painful stimuli. However, past studies have reported heterogenous results, highlighting opportunities for a quantitative meta-analysis to integrate existing data and delineate consistent associations across studies.ObjectiveTo identify differential brain responses to noxious stimuli in patients with chronic pain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while adhering to current best practices for neuroimaging meta-analyses.Data sourcesAll fMRI experiments published from January 1, 1990, to May 28, 2019, were identified in a literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, and SCOPUS.Study selectionExperiments comparing brain responses to noxious stimuli in fMRI between patients and controls were selected if they reported whole-brain results, included at least 10 patients and 10 healthy control participants, and used adequate statistical thresholding (voxel-height P < .001 or cluster-corrected P < .05). Two independent reviewers evaluated titles and abstracts returned by the search. In total, 3682 abstracts were screened, and 1129 full-text articles were evaluated.Data extraction and synthesisThirty-seven experiments from 29 articles met inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. Coordinates reporting significant activation differences between patients with chronic pain and healthy controls were extracted. These data were meta-analyzed using activation likelihood estimation. Data were analyzed from December 2019 to February 2020.Main outcomes and measuresA whole-brain meta-analysis evaluated whether reported differences in brain activation in response to noxious stimuli between patients and healthy controls were spatially convergent. Follow-up analyses examined the directionality of any differences. Finally, an exploratory (nonpreregistered) region-of-interest analysis examined differences within the pain network.ResultsThe 37 experiments from 29 unique articles included a total of 511 patients and 433 controls (944 participants). Whole-brain meta-analyses did not reveal significant differences between patients and controls in brain responses to noxious stimuli at the preregistered statistical threshold. However, exploratory analyses restricted to the pain network revealed aberrant activity in patients.Conclusions and relevanceIn this systematic review and meta-analysis, preregistered, whole-brain analyses did not reveal aberrant fMRI activity in patients with chronic pain. Exploratory analyses suggested that subtle, spatially diffuse differences may exist within the pain network. Future work on chronic pain biomarkers may benefit from focus on this core set of pain-responsive areas.

Dataset Information

Cerebrovascular responses of the rat brain to noxious stimuli as examined by functional near-infrared whole brain imaging.

Publications

Cerebrovascular responses of the rat brain to noxious stimuli as examined by functional near-infrared whole brain imaging.

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