Brain Sciences Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA.
Exp Brain Res. 2010 Jul;204(1):33-45. doi: 10.1007/s00221-010-2291-6. Epub 2010 May 26.
We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate the cortical processing of an innocuous facial tactile stimulus in healthy subjects and in a group of subjects suffering from chronic temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Equivalent current dipoles (ECDs) were extracted for a time period of 1 s following stimulus application, and their location, duration and onset time determined. The counts of ECDs extracted did not differ significantly between the two groups. In contrast, we found statistically significant differences in ECD duration and onset time. Specifically, ECD duration was longer in the TMD group in the precentral gyrus, and ECD onset time was earlier in the parietal operculum. In addition, we found differences in the internal organization and clustering of the brain areas involved indicating a less tight association and a less coordinated stimulus information processing in the TMD group. Altogether, these results show that an innocuous facial tactile stimulus is differently processed in the brain of TMD subjects, when compared to controls, reflecting altered brain mechanisms due to chronic pain.
我们使用脑磁图（MEG）来研究健康受试者和慢性颞下颌关节紊乱（TMD）患者群体对面部无害触觉刺激的皮质处理。在刺激应用后 1 秒的时间段内提取等效电流偶极子（ECD），并确定其位置、持续时间和起始时间。从两组中提取的 ECD 计数没有显着差异。相比之下，我们发现 ECD 持续时间和起始时间存在统计学上的显着差异。具体来说，在中央前回中，TMD 组的 ECD 持续时间较长，而顶叶脑岛中 ECD 的起始时间较早。此外，我们发现参与的脑区的内部组织和聚类存在差异，表明 TMD 组的关联不紧密，刺激信息处理不协调。总的来说，这些结果表明，与对照组相比，TMD 患者大脑对面部无害触觉刺激的处理不同，反映了由于慢性疼痛导致的大脑机制改变。
