Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40893004›Full record

ArticlePain2026

Individual differences in conditioned pain modulation are associated with alpha oscillations.

Rima El-Sayed, Vaidhehi Veena Sanmugananthan, Joshua C Cheng, Anton Rogachov, Natalie R Osborne, Ariana Besik, Kasey S Hemington, Junseok A Kim, Rachael L Bosma, Emily P Mills and 2 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Pain, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Rima El-SayedInstitute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Vaidhehi Veena SanmugananthanInstitute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Joshua C ChengInstitute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Anton RogachovInstitute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Natalie R OsborneInstitute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Ariana BesikDivision of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour, Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Kasey S HemingtonInstitute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Junseok A KimInstitute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Rachael L BosmaDivision of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour, Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Emily P MillsDivision of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour, Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Benjamin T DunkleyDiagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Karen D DavisInstitute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-1879-0090

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

abstractConditioned pain modulation (CPM), the change in pain evoked by a test stimulus at 1 body site by a conditioning stimulus at another site, varies across individuals, ranging from inhibition (pain decreases) to no CPM to facilitation (pain increases). Given the role of alpha oscillations in pain, we examined the relationship between CPM and peak alpha frequency (PAF) and power in the dynamic pain connectome (DPC). In 68 healthy individuals who underwent resting-state magnetoencephalography and a heat-based CPM evaluation, 32% had inhibitory CPM, 49% had facilitatory CPM, and 19% had no CPM. The facilitatory subgroup had lower alpha power in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) compared with the inhibitory subgroup and across the DPC (mPFC, right thalamus, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [dlPFC]) compared with the noCPM subgroup. Peak alpha frequency in the thalamus bilaterally was strongly correlated with inhibitory CPM (higher PAF with stronger inhibitory CPM). The subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) PAF was correlated with inhibitory CPM in males and females in opposite directions, but not at the whole subgroup level. The pressure-based CPM evoked inhibitory CPM in 87% of the 45 individuals tested; the relationship with PAF in the right dlPFC and sgACC had medium-strong effect sizes driven by males (higher PAF with weaker inhibitory CPM). This study indicates that the role of alpha oscillations in CPM is paradigm- and sex-dependent. Our findings that healthy individuals exhibit an alpha-CPM relationship, particularly in the prefrontal regions and sgACC, provide insight into the potential therapeutic use of targeted neuromodulation for pain.

Indexed as

Alpha RhythmBrainConditioning, PsychologicalIndividualityPainAdultConnectomeFemaleHumansMagnetoencephalographyMaleMiddle AgedPain ThresholdPrefrontal CortexThalamusYoung AdultAlpha oscillationsConditioned pain modulationdlpfcMagnetoencephalographySex differencessgACC

Identifiers

PMID40893004
PMCPMC12794338

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.