Journal: Pain
Article Title: Pharmacologic attenuation of cross-modal sensory augmentation within the chronic pain insula
doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000593
Figure Lengend Snippet: Specific attenuation of insular response to aversive visual stimulation by pregabalin. (A) A subset of 17 patients with fibromyalgia underwent aversive visual stimulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) both before and after pregabalin and placebo administration. After the pregabalin period, a significant reduction in bilateral insular blood–oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activation in response to the visual stimulus was observed (left). No reductions in insular activation were observed after placebo treatment (right). Lines denote fMRI BOLD values for each participant (pre and post drug or placebo). Blue lines represent individuals with a decrease in BOLD activity, whereas red lines denote increases in BOLD activity. (B) A direct contrast between pregabalin and placebo periods shows decreased visual stimulus-evoked BOLD response in the right insula after pregabalin treatment.
Article Snippet: Participants underwent a 3-minute dynamic visual stimulation task developed in MATLAB (Mathworks, Natick, MA) that consisted of alternating 20-second blocks of a flashing (8 Hz frequency) blue-yellow annulus checkerboard and a static fixation cross (Fig. A).
Techniques: Functional Assay, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Activation Assay, Activity Assay