Department of Biological Applications and Technology, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
Institute of Biosciences, University Research Center of Ioannina (URCI), 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Mar 17;24(6):5736. doi: 10.3390/ijms24065736.
The transition from normal to chronic pain is believed to involve alterations in several brain areas that participate in the perception of pain. These plastic changes are then responsible for aberrant pain perception and comorbidities. The insular cortex is consistently found activated in pain studies of normal and chronic pain patients. Functional changes in the insula contribute to chronic pain; however, the complex mechanisms by which the insula is involved in pain perception under normal and pathological conditions are still not clear. In this review, an overview of the insular function is provided and findings on its role in pain from human studies are summarized. Recent progress on the role of the insula in pain from preclinical experimental models is reviewed, and the connectivity of the insula with other brain regions is examined to shed new light on the neuronal mechanisms of the insular cortex's contribution to normal and pathological pain sensation. This review underlines the need for further studies on the mechanisms underlying the involvement of the insula in the chronicity of pain and the expression of comorbid disorders.
从正常疼痛向慢性疼痛的转变被认为涉及参与疼痛感知的几个大脑区域的改变。这些塑性变化负责异常的疼痛感知和共病。在正常和慢性疼痛患者的疼痛研究中，始终发现脑岛皮层被激活。脑岛的功能变化导致慢性疼痛；然而，脑岛在正常和病理条件下参与疼痛感知的复杂机制尚不清楚。在这篇综述中，提供了脑岛功能的概述，并总结了来自人类研究的关于其在疼痛中的作用的发现。回顾了最近在疼痛前临床实验模型中脑岛作用的进展，并检查了脑岛与其他大脑区域的连接，以深入了解脑岛皮层对正常和病理性疼痛感觉的贡献的神经元机制。本综述强调需要进一步研究脑岛参与疼痛慢性化和共病表现的机制。
