Zhang Feifei, Li Fei, Yang Hong, Jin Yu, Lai Wenli, Kemp Graham J, Jia Zhiyun, Gong Qiyong
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Department of Radiology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
Front Neurosci. 2022 May 11;16:907216. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.907216. eCollection 2022.
Orthodontic pain is orofacial pain caused by tooth movement. Anxiety is a strong predictor of the severity of such pain, but little is known about the underlying neuropsychological mechanisms of such effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of orthodontic pain on brain functional networks and to define the mediating role of anxiety in orthodontic pain and brain function.
Graph theory-based network analyses were applied to brain functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 48 healthy participants exposed to 24 h orthodontic pain stimuli and 49 healthy controls without any stimulation.
In the experimental orthodontic pain stimulation, brain functional networks retained a small-world organization. At the regional level, the nodal centrality of ipsilateral brain nodes to the pain stimulus was enhanced; in contrast the nodal centrality of contralateral brain areas was decreased, especially the right mid-cingulate cortex, which is involved in pain intensity coding. Furthermore, anxiety mediated the relationship between nodal efficiency of mid-cingulate cortex and pain severity.
The results illuminate the neural mechanisms of orthodontic pain by revealing unbalanced hemispherical brain function related to the unilateral pain stimulation, and reveal clinically exploitable evidence that anxiety mediates the relationship between nodal function of right mid-cingulate cortex and orthodontic pain.
正畸疼痛是由牙齿移动引起的口面部疼痛。焦虑是此类疼痛严重程度的一个强有力的预测指标，但对于这种影响的潜在神经心理学机制知之甚少。本研究的目的是调查正畸疼痛对脑功能网络的影响，并确定焦虑在正畸疼痛和脑功能中的中介作用。
基于图论的网络分析应用于48名暴露于24小时正畸疼痛刺激的健康参与者和49名未接受任何刺激的健康对照者的脑功能磁共振成像数据。
在正畸疼痛刺激实验中，脑功能网络保持小世界组织特性。在区域水平上，疼痛刺激同侧脑节点的节点中心性增强；相比之下，对侧脑区的节点中心性降低，尤其是参与疼痛强度编码的右侧扣带中部皮质。此外，焦虑介导了扣带中部皮质的节点效率与疼痛严重程度之间的关系。
研究结果通过揭示与单侧疼痛刺激相关的半球脑功能失衡，阐明了正畸疼痛的神经机制，并揭示了焦虑介导右侧扣带中部皮质节点功能与正畸疼痛之间关系的临床可利用证据。
