Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on November 9, 2005
Cerebral Cortex 2006 16(9):1289-1295; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhj071
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Brain Processing of the Signals Ascending Through Unmyelinated C Fibers in Humans: An Event-Related Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
1 Department of Integrative Physiology and 2 Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan, 3 Department of Physiological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan and 4 SORST and 5 RISTEX, Japan Science and Technology Corp Agency (JST), Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan
Address correspondence to Ryusuke Kakigi, MD, PhD, Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan. Email: kakigi{at}nips.ac.jp.
Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate brain processing of the signals ascending from peripheral C and A
fibers evoked by phasic laser stimuli on the right hand in humans. The stimulation of both C and A
nociceptors activated the bilateral thalamus, bilateral secondary somatosensory cortex, right (ipsilateral) middle insula, and bilateral Brodmann's area (BA) 24/32, with the majority of activity found in the posterior portion of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, magnitude of activity in the right (ipsilateral) BA32/8/6, including dorsal parts in the anterior portion of the ACC (aACC) and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), and the bilateral anterior insula was significantly stronger following the stimulation of C nociceptors than A
nociceptors. It was concluded that the activation of C nociceptors, related to second pain, evokes different brain processing from that of A
nociceptors, related to first pain, probably due to the differences in the emotional and motivational aspects of either pain, which are mainly related to the aACC, pre-SMA, and anterior insula.
Key Words: ACC (anterior cingulate cortex) A
fiber C fiber fMRI pain
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