Craig A D, Chen K, Bandy D, Reiman E M
Division of Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, 350 West Thomas Rd., Phoenix, Arizona 85013, USA.
Nat Neurosci. 2000 Feb;3(2):184-90. doi: 10.1038/72131.
Temperature sensation is regarded as a submodality of touch, but evidence suggests involvement of insular cortex rather than parietal somatosensory cortices. Using positron emission tomography (PET), we found contralateral activity correlated with graded cooling stimuli only in the dorsal margin of the middle/posterior insula in humans. This corresponds to the thermoreceptive- and nociceptive-specific lamina I spinothalamocortical pathway in monkeys, and can be considered an enteroceptive area within limbic sensory cortex. Because lesions at this site can produce the post-stroke central pain syndrome, this finding supports the proposal that central pain results from loss of the normal inhibition of pain by cold. Notably, perceived thermal intensity was well correlated with activation in the right (ipsilateral) anterior insular and orbitofrontal cortices.
温度感觉被视为触觉的一种亚模态，但有证据表明岛叶皮质而非顶叶体感皮质参与其中。使用正电子发射断层扫描（PET），我们发现人类仅在中/后岛叶的背侧边缘存在与分级冷却刺激相关的对侧活动。这与猴子的热感受性和伤害感受性特异性I层脊髓丘脑皮质通路相对应，并且可被视为边缘感觉皮质内的内感受区域。由于该部位的损伤可导致中风后中枢性疼痛综合征，这一发现支持了中枢性疼痛是由于寒冷对疼痛的正常抑制作用丧失所致的观点。值得注意的是，感知到的热强度与右侧（同侧）前岛叶和眶额皮质的激活密切相关。
