SynthesisNeuroImage2012
Neuroimaging of the periaqueductal gray: state of the field.
Synthesis in NeuroImage, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 213 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
213 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 397 citations in OpenAlex.
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Post-Traumatic Headache: A Systematic Review.Current pain and headache reports · 2025Pooled it
- Functional neuroanatomy of peripheral inflammatory physiology: A meta-analysis of human neuroimaging studies.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Transcutaneous auricular nerve stimulation modulates the functional connectivity of the descending pain modulation system and reward network in patients with chronic low back pain.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Trial
- Modulation effects of different treatments on periaqueductal gray resting state functional connectivity in knee osteoarthritis knee pain patients.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Endogenous opioids regulate social threat learning in humans.Nature communications · 2017Trial
- Frontal-Brainstem Pathways Mediating Placebo Effects on Social Rejection.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2017Trial
- The brain signature of paracetamol in healthy volunteers: a double-blind randomized trial.Drug design, development and therapy · 2015Trial
- Testosterone rapidly increases neural reactivity to threat in healthy men: a novel two-step pharmacological challenge paradigm.Biological psychiatry · 2014Trial
- Unlearning chronic pain: A randomized controlled trial to investigate changes in intrinsic brain connectivity following Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2014Trial
- Building up analgesia in humans via the endogenous μ-opioid system by combining placebo and active tDCS: a preliminary report.PloS one · 2014Trial
- Placebo improves pleasure and pain through opposite modulation of sensory processing.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2013Trial
- Identification of discrete functional subregions of the human periaqueductal gray.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2013Trial
- Consumption of fermented milk product with probiotic modulates brain activity.Gastroenterology · 2013Trial
- Offset Analgesia and Onset Hyperalgesia: A Comparison Between Women With Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Healthy Women.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Evaluating seed-based and independent component analysis approaches for resting-state functional connectivity mapping with fNIRS.Neurophotonics · 2026Article
- Role of Dorsomedial Periaqueductal Gray Glutamatergic Neurons in Promoting Arousal under Multiple General Anesthetics in Mice.Anesthesiology · 2026Article
- Behavioral phenotype analysis highlights sleep heterogeneity and brain cellular activations in a mouse model of PTSD.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- Through Massage to the Brain-Neuronal and Neuroplastic Mechanisms of Massage Based on Various Neuroimaging Techniques (EEG, fMRI, and fNIRS).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
153 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
This review and meta-analysis aims at summarizing and integrating the human neuroimaging studies that report periaqueductal gray (PAG) involvement; 250 original manuscripts on human neuroimaging of the PAG were identified. A narrative review and meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimates is included. Behaviors covered include pain and pain modulation, anxiety, bladder and bowel function and autonomic regulation. Methods include structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, functional connectivity measures, diffusion weighted imaging and positron emission tomography. Human neuroimaging studies in healthy and clinical populations largely confirm the animal literature indicating that the PAG is involved in homeostatic regulation of salient functions such as pain, anxiety and autonomic function. Methodological concerns in the current literature, including resolution constraints, imaging artifacts and imprecise neuroanatomical labeling are discussed, and future directions are proposed. A general conclusion is that PAG neuroimaging is a field with enormous potential to translate animal data onto human behaviors, but with some growing pains that can and need to be addressed in order to add to our understanding of the neurobiology of this key region.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.