Fauchon Camille, Kim Junseok A, El-Sayed Rima, Osborne Natalie R, Rogachov Anton, Cheng Joshua C, Hemington Kasey S, Bosma Rachael L, Dunkley Benjamin T, Oh Jiwon, Bhatia Anuj, Inman Robert D, Davis Karen D
Division of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour, Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Pain. 2022 Jul 1;163(7):1291-1302. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002491. Epub 2021 Sep 25.
Alpha oscillatory activity (8-13 Hz) is the dominant rhythm in the awake brain and is known to play an important role in pain states. Previous studies have identified alpha band slowing and increased power in the dynamic pain connectome (DPC) of people with chronic neuropathic pain. However, a link between alpha-band abnormalities and sex differences in brain organization in healthy individuals and those with chronic pain is not known. Here, we used resting-state magnetoencephalography to test the hypothesis that peak alpha frequency (PAF) abnormalities are general features across chronic central and peripheral conditions causing neuropathic pain but exhibit sex-specific differences in networks of the DPC (ascending nociceptive pathway [ANP], default mode network, salience network [SN], and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex). We found that neuropathic pain (N = 25 men and 25 women) was associated with increased PAF power in the DPC compared with 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls, whereas slower PAF in nodes of the SN (temporoparietal junction) and the ANP (posterior insula) was associated with higher trait pain intensity. In the neuropathic pain group, women exhibited lower PAF power in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and faster PAF in the ANP and SN than men. The within-sex analyses indicated that women had neuropathic pain-related increased PAF power in the ANP, SN, and default mode network, whereas men with neuropathic pain had increased PAF power restricted to the ANP. These findings highlight neuropathic pain-related and sex-specific abnormalities in alpha oscillations across the DPC that could underlie aberrant neuronal communication in nociceptive processing and modulation.
α振荡活动（8-13赫兹）是清醒大脑中的主导节律，已知在疼痛状态中起重要作用。先前的研究已经确定慢性神经性疼痛患者的动态疼痛连接组（DPC）中α波段减慢且功率增加。然而，健康个体和慢性疼痛患者中α波段异常与大脑组织性别差异之间的联系尚不清楚。在这里，我们使用静息态脑磁图来检验以下假设：峰值α频率（PAF）异常是导致神经性疼痛的慢性中枢和外周疾病的普遍特征，但在DPC网络（上行伤害性感受通路[ANP]、默认模式网络、突显网络[SN]和膝下前扣带回皮质）中表现出性别特异性差异。我们发现，与50名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照相比，神经性疼痛患者（25名男性和25名女性）的DPC中PAF功率增加，而SN（颞顶叶交界处）和ANP（后岛叶）节点中较慢的PAF与较高的特质疼痛强度相关。在神经性疼痛组中，女性在膝下前扣带回皮质中的PAF功率较低，而在ANP和SN中的PAF比男性更快。性别内分析表明，女性在ANP、SN和默认模式网络中具有与神经性疼痛相关的PAF功率增加，而患有神经性疼痛的男性的PAF功率增加仅限于ANP。这些发现突出了DPC中与神经性疼痛相关的α振荡异常以及性别特异性异常，这些异常可能是伤害性感受处理和调制中异常神经元通信的基础。
