Department of Radiological Science, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA Department of Biomedical Physics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA Department of Bioengineering, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA Center for the Neurobiology of Stress, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA Department of Digestive Diseases and Gastroenterology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Pain. 2013 Sep;154(9):1528-1541. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2013.04.010. Epub 2013 Apr 8.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal disorder characterized by recurring abdominal pain associated with alterations in bowel habits. We hypothesized that patients with chronic visceral pain associated with IBS may have microstructural differences in the brain compared with healthy control subjects (HCs), indicative of long-term neural reorganization of chronic pain pathways and regions associated with sensory integration. In the current study we performed population-based voxel-wise diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) comparisons and probabilistic tractography in a large sample of phenotyped patients with IBS (n=33) and in HCs (n=93). Patients had lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in thalamic regions, the basal ganglia (BG) and sensory/motor association/integration regions as well as higher FA in frontal lobe regions and the corpus callosum. In addition, patients had reduced mean diffusivity (MD) within the globus pallidus (GP) and higher MD in the thalamus, internal capsule, and coronal radiata projecting to sensory/motor regions, suggestive of differential changes in axon/dendritic density in these regions. Sex differences in FA and MD were also observed in the patients but not in HCs. Probabilistic tractography in patients confirmed a higher degree of connectivity between the thalamus and prefrontal cortex, as well as between the medial dorsal thalamic nuclei and anterior cingulate cortex, and a lower degree of connectivity between the GP and thalamus. Together, these results support the hypothesis that patients with chronically recurring visceral pain from IBS have long-term microstructural changes within the brain, particularly in regions associated with integration of sensory information and corticothalamic modulation.
肠易激综合征(IBS)是一种常见的胃肠道疾病,其特征为反复发作的腹痛,伴有肠习惯改变。我们假设与 IBS 相关的慢性内脏疼痛患者的大脑可能与健康对照组(HCs)存在微观结构差异,这表明与慢性疼痛通路和与感觉整合相关的区域的长期神经重组。在目前的研究中,我们对大量表型 IBS 患者(n=33)和 HCs(n=93)进行了基于人群的体素扩散张量成像(DTI)比较和概率追踪。患者的丘脑、基底神经节(BG)和感觉/运动联合/整合区域的各向异性分数(FA)较低,额叶区域和胼胝体的 FA 较高。此外,患者的苍白球(GP)内的平均弥散度(MD)降低,丘脑、内囊和放射冠到感觉/运动区域的 MD 升高,提示这些区域的轴突/树突密度存在差异变化。患者的 FA 和 MD 也存在性别差异,但 HCs 没有。患者的概率追踪证实了丘脑与前额叶皮层之间以及内侧背侧丘脑核与前扣带皮层之间的连接程度较高,而 GP 与丘脑之间的连接程度较低。总之,这些结果支持了这样一种假设,即患有慢性反复发作的内脏疼痛的 IBS 患者的大脑存在长期的微观结构变化,特别是在与感觉信息整合和皮质丘脑调制相关的区域。