Functional localization of pain perception in the human... : NeuroReport (original) (raw)

Somatosensory Systems, Pain

Functional localization of pain perception in the human brain studied by PET

Xu, Xiaoping1; Fukuyama, Hidenao1,3; Yazawa, Shogo1; Mima, Tatsuya1; Hanakawa, Takashi1; Magata, Yasuhiro2; Kanda, Masutaro1; Fujiwara, Naohito1; Shindo, Kazuo1; Nagamine, Takashi1; Shibasaki, Hiroshi1

1Department of Brain Pathophysiology, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawaharacho, Sakyoku, Kyoto, 606-01, Japan

2Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawaharacho, Sakyoku, Kyoto, 606-01, Japan

3Corresponding Author: Hidenao Fukuyama.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This study was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) 06404031, for Scientific Research on Priority Area 08279106, and for International Scientific Research 07044258 from the Japan Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, and Research Grant for Nervous and Mental Disorders ‘Functional Imaging’ from the Japan Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Received 28 August 1996; accepted 31 October 1996

Abstract

TO elucidate the functional localization and somatotopic organization of pain perception in the human cerebral cortex, we studied the regional cerebral blood flow using positron emission tomography during selective painful stimulation in six normal subjects. Response to a painful stimulus was elicited using a special CO2 laser, which selectively activates nociceptive receptors, to the hand and foot. Multiple brain areas, including bilateral secondary somatosensory cortices (SII) and insula, and the frontal lobe and thalamus contralateral to the stimulus side, were found to be involved in the response to painful stimulation. While our data indicate that the bilateral SII play an important role in pain perception, they also indicate that there is no pain-related somatotopic organization in the human SII or insula.