Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Neurosci Bull. 2009 Oct;25(5):289-95. doi: 10.1007/s12264-009-0908-1.
The sensation of pain is critical for the survival of animals and humans. However, the brain mechanisms underlying pain perception remain largely unknown. How does the brain decode the pain-evoked activity into a particular sensory experience? Over the past decade, attempts have been made to answer these questions by employing electrophysiological, functional brain imaging, and behavioral approaches, and some basic properties of pain formation have been revealed. Researchers have gradually recognized that there exists a distributed neural network that participates in the transmission and processing of pain information. These studies will further guide the development of more effective treatment for many disorders such as chronic pain.
疼痛的感觉对动物和人类的生存至关重要。然而，大脑中疼痛感知的机制在很大程度上仍然未知。大脑如何将疼痛引起的活动解码成特定的感觉体验？在过去的十年中，人们试图通过使用电生理学、功能性脑成像和行为学方法来回答这些问题，并且已经揭示了一些疼痛形成的基本特性。研究人员逐渐认识到，存在一个分布式神经网络参与疼痛信息的传递和处理。这些研究将进一步指导开发出更有效的治疗方法，以治疗许多疾病，如慢性疼痛。
