ArticlePloS one2022
Increased functional connectivity between limbic brain areas in healthy individuals with high versus low sensitivity to cold pain: A resting state fMRI study.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Novel Investigation of an In-Scanner Alternative to the Cold Pressor Test in Healthy Individuals.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Sex Is Not an Independent Predictor of Exercise-Induced Pain After Adjustment for Performance and Pain Sensitivity.Pain research & management · 2025Article
- Advances and challenges in neuroimaging-based pain biomarkers.Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Review
- The Effects of Whole-body Cold-water Immersion on Brain Connectivity Related to the Affective State in Adults Using fMRI: A Protocol of a Pre-post Experimental Design.Bio-protocol · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe representation of variability in sensitivity to pain by differences in neural connectivity patterns and its association with psychological factors needs further investigation. This study assessed differences in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and its association to cognitive-affective aspects of pain in two groups of healthy subjects with low versus high sensitivity to pain (LSP vs. HSP). We hypothesized that HSP will show stronger connectivity in brain regions involved in the affective-motivational processing of pain and that this higher connectivity would be related to negative affective and cognitive evaluations of pain.
methodsForty-eight healthy subjects were allocated to two groups according to their tolerability to cold stimulation (cold pressor test, CPT, 1°C). Group LSP (N = 24) reached the cut-off time of 180±0 sec and group HSP tolerated the CPT for an average of 13±4.8 sec. Heat, cold and mechanical evoked pain were measured, as well as pain-catastrophizing (PCS), depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21). All subjects underwent resting state fMRI. ROI-to-ROI analysis was performed.
resultsIn comparison to the LSP, the HSP had stronger interhemispheric connectivity of the amygdala (p = 0.01) and between the amygdala and nucleus accumbens (NAc) (p = 0.01). Amygdala connectivity was associated with higher pain catastrophizing in the HSP only (p<0.01).
conclusionsThese findings suggest that high sensitivity to pain may be reflected by neural circuits involved in affective and motivational aspects of pain. To what extent this connectivity within limbic brain structures relates to higher alertness and more profound withdrawal behavior to aversive events needs to be further investigated.
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