Fabrizi L, Worley A, Patten D, Holdridge S, Cornelissen L, Meek J, Boyd S, Slater R
Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London.
J Vis Exp. 2011 Dec 20(58):3118. doi: 10.3791/3118.
Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. Since infants cannot verbally report their experiences, current methods of pain assessment are based on behavioural and physiological body reactions, such as crying, body movements or changes in facial expression. While these measures demonstrate that infants mount a response following noxious stimulation, they are limited: they are based on activation of subcortical somatic and autonomic motor pathways that may not be reliably linked to central sensory processing in the brain. Knowledge of how the central nervous system responds to noxious events could provide an insight to how nociceptive information and pain is processed in newborns. The heel lancing procedure used to extract blood from hospitalised infants offers a unique opportunity to study pain in infancy. In this video we describe how electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) time-locked to this procedure can be used to investigate nociceptive activity in the brain and spinal cord. This integrative approach to the measurement of infant pain has the potential to pave the way for an effective and sensitive clinical measurement tool.
疼痛是一种令人不快的感觉和情绪体验。由于婴儿无法通过言语报告他们的经历，目前的疼痛评估方法基于行为和生理身体反应，如哭泣、身体动作或面部表情变化。虽然这些措施表明婴儿在受到有害刺激后会产生反应，但它们存在局限性：它们基于皮层下躯体和自主运动通路的激活，而这些通路可能与大脑中的中枢感觉处理没有可靠联系。了解中枢神经系统如何对有害事件做出反应，有助于洞察新生儿如何处理伤害性信息和疼痛。用于从住院婴儿身上采集血液的足跟采血程序为研究婴儿期疼痛提供了独特的机会。在本视频中，我们描述了如何将脑电图（EEG）和肌电图（EMG）与该程序进行时间锁定，以研究大脑和脊髓中的伤害性活动。这种综合测量婴儿疼痛的方法有可能为开发一种有效且敏感的临床测量工具铺平道路。
