Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Aug;155(8):1492-1503.
doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2014.04.028. Epub 2014 May 2.

The contribution of sensory system functional connectivity reduction to clinical pain in fibromyalgia

Jesus Pujol  1 , Dídac Macià, Alba Garcia-Fontanals, Laura Blanco-Hinojo, Marina López-Solà, Susana Garcia-Blanco, Violant Poca-Dias, Ben J Harrison, Oren Contreras-Rodríguez, Jordi Monfort, Ferran Garcia-Fructuoso, Joan Deus
Affiliations

The contribution of sensory system functional connectivity reduction to clinical pain in fibromyalgia

Jesus Pujol et al. Pain. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Fibromyalgia typically presents with spontaneous body pain with no apparent cause and is considered pathophysiologically to be a functional disorder of somatosensory processing. We have investigated potential associations between the degree of self-reported clinical pain and resting-state brain functional connectivity at different levels of putative somatosensory integration. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was obtained in 40 women with fibromyalgia and 36 control subjects. A combination of functional connectivity-based measurements were used to assess (1) the basic pain signal modulation system at the level of the periaqueductal gray (PAG); (2) the sensory cortex with an emphasis on the parietal operculum/secondary somatosensory cortex (SII); and (3) the connectivity of these regions with the self-referential "default mode" network. Compared with control subjects, a reduction of functional connectivity was identified across the 3 levels of neural processing, each showing a significant and complementary correlation with the degree of clinical pain. Specifically, self-reported pain in fibromyalgia patients correlated with (1) reduced connectivity between PAG and anterior insula; (2) reduced connectivity between SII and primary somatosensory, visual, and auditory cortices; and (3) increased connectivity between SII and the default mode network. The results confirm previous research demonstrating abnormal functional connectivity in fibromyalgia and show that alterations at different levels of sensory processing may contribute to account for clinical pain. Importantly, reduced functional connectivity extended beyond the somatosensory domain and implicated visual and auditory sensory modalities. Overall, this study suggests that a general weakening of sensory integration underlies clinical pain in fibromyalgia.

Keywords: Fibromyalgia; Functional connectivity; Pain modulation; Sensory system; fMRI.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Apkarian AV, Stea RA, Bolanowski SJ. Heat-induced pain diminishes vibrotactile perception: a touch gate. Somatosens Mot Res 1994;11:259-267.
    1. Baliki MN, Chialvo DR, Geha PY, Levy RM, Harden RN, Parrish TB, Apkarian AV. Chronic pain and the emotional brain: specific brain activity associated with spontaneous fluctuations of intensity of chronic back pain. J Neurosci 2006;26:12165-12173.
    1. Baliki MN, Geha PY, Apkarian AV, Chialvo DR. Beyond feeling: chronic pain hurts the brain, disrupting the default-mode network dynamics. J Neurosci 2008;28:1398-1403.
    1. Baron R, Binder A, Wasner G. Neuropathic pain: diagnosis, pathophysiological mechanisms, and treatment. Lancet Neurol 2010;9:807-819.
    1. Benarroch EE. Periaqueductal gray: an interface for behavioral control. Neurology 2012;78:210-217.

Publication types