Dataset Information

Prefrontal Gamma Oscillations Encode Tonic Pain in Humans.

ABSTRACT: Under physiological conditions, momentary pain serves vital protective functions. Ongoing pain in chronic pain states, on the other hand, is a pathological condition that causes widespread suffering and whose treatment remains unsatisfactory. The brain mechanisms of ongoing pain are largely unknown. In this study, we applied tonic painful heat stimuli of varying degree to healthy human subjects, obtained continuous pain ratings, and recorded electroencephalograms to relate ongoing pain to brain activity. Our results reveal that the subjective perception of tonic pain is selectively encoded by gamma oscillations in the medial prefrontal cortex. We further observed that the encoding of subjective pain intensity experienced by the participants differs fundamentally from that of objective stimulus intensity and from that of brief pain stimuli. These observations point to a role for gamma oscillations in the medial prefrontal cortex in ongoing, tonic pain and thereby extend current concepts of the brain mechanisms of pain to the clinically relevant state of ongoing pain. Furthermore, our approach might help to identify a brain marker of ongoing pain, which may prove useful for the diagnosis and therapy of chronic pain.

SUBMITTER: Schulz E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4816790 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Prefrontal Gamma Oscillations Encode Tonic Pain in Humans.

Schulz Enrico E May Elisabeth S ES Postorino Martina M Tiemann Laura L Nickel Moritz M MM Witkovsky Viktor V Schmidt Paul P Gross Joachim J Ploner Markus M

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) 20150308 11

Under physiological conditions, momentary pain serves vital protective functions. Ongoing pain in chronic pain states, on the other hand, is a pathological condition that causes widespread suffering and whose treatment remains unsatisfactory. The brain mechanisms of ongoing pain are largely unknown. In this study, we applied tonic painful heat stimuli of varying degree to healthy human subjects, obtained continuous pain ratings, and recorded electroencephalograms to relate ongoing pain to brain ...[more]

PMID: 25754338

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Project description:Recent studies have suggested that cortical gamma-oscillations are tightly linked with various forms of physiological activity. In the present study, the dynamic changes of intracranially recorded median-nerve somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) and somatosensory-induced gamma-oscillations were animated on a three-dimensional MR image, and the temporal and spatial characteristics of these activities were analysed in 10 children being evaluated for epilepsy surgery. Visual and quantitative assessments revealed that short-latency SEPs and somatosensory-induced gamma-oscillations predominantly involved the post-central gyrus and less intensely involved the pre-central gyrus and the anterior parietal lobule. Formation of a dipole of N20 peak with opposite polarities across the central sulcus was well delineated in animation movies. High-frequency (100-250 Hz) somatosensory-induced gamma-oscillations emerged in the post-central gyrus at 13.6-17.5 ms after median-nerve stimulation, gradually slowed down in frequency around and below 100 Hz, and progressively involved the neighbouring areas. A substantial proportion of somatosensory-induced gamma-oscillations was initially phase-locked and the proportion of a non-phase-locked component gradually increased over time. The primary motor hand areas proven by cortical stimulation frequently coincided with the sites showing the largest N20 peak and the largest somatosensory-induced gamma oscillations. In vivo animation of SEPs and somatosensory-induced gamma oscillations both may be utilized to localize the primary sensory-motor hand area in pre-surgical evaluation. The dipole on SEPs is consistent with the previously accepted notion that the cortices along the central sulcus are activated. The high-frequency somatosensory-induced gamma-oscillations in the post-central gyrus may represent the initial neural processing for external somatosensory stimuli, whereas the subsequent lower-frequency oscillations might represent the reafferent cortical activity occurring in larger cortical networks.

Dataset Information

Prefrontal Gamma Oscillations Encode Tonic Pain in Humans.

Publications

Prefrontal Gamma Oscillations Encode Tonic Pain in Humans.

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