Functional characterization of somatosensory areas in the human parasylvian cortex
Final Report Abstract
The focus of this project was the characterization of the parasylvian or operculo‐insular cortex (OIC) in its roles for processing of somatosensory and nociceptive stimuli. We could demonstrate in animals and humans, that there is a somatotopy for nociceptive stimuli within the posterior insula for heat and mechanical pain with additional representations for heat pain in the anterior insula and the secondary somatosensory cortex. We further identified the temporal sequence and localization of somatosensory processing in opercular regions including structural‐functional asymmetric processing in the left hemisphere. Other results suggested that subjective pain experience is increased during sleep deprivation and decreased in psychiatric borderline personality disorder patients due to altered top‐down modulation of regions like the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on the OIC and other areas, which might be substrates for future non‐invasive interventions. Since some of these findings were unexpected, we further pursued these lines of evidence with additional studies. Pain memory of preceding pain experience was immediately stored with some variability, however once consolidated after approximately 1 or a few days, it remained fully stable. Future research may yield additional information with the help of novel data analysis techniques both in electrophysiological and neuroimaging domains.
Publications
- (2004) Differential nociceptive deficits in patients with borderline personality disorder and self‐injurious behavior: Laser‐evoked potentials, spatial discrimination of noxious stimuli, and pain ratings. Pain 110: 470‐479
Schmahl CG, Greffrath W, Baumgärtner U, Schlereth T, Magerl W, Phillipsen A, Lieb K, Bohus M, Treede R‐D
- (2005) Spatial resolution of fMRI in the human parasylvian cortex: comparison of somatosensory and auditory activation. Neuroimage 25: 877‐887
Özcan M, Baumgärtner U, Vucurevic G, Stoeter P, Treede R‐D
- (2006) High opiate receptor binding potential in the human lateral pain system. Neuroimage 30: 692‐699
Baumgärtner U, Buchholz HG, Bellosevich A, Magerl W, Siessmeier T, Rolke R, Höhnemann S, Piel M, Rösch F, Wester HJ, Henriksen G, Stoeter P, Bartenstein P, Treede R‐D, Schreckenberger M
- (2006) Laser‐evoked potentials are graded and somatotopically organized anteroposteriorly in the operculo‐insular cortex of anesthetized monkeys. J Neurophysiol. 96: 2802 – 2808
Baumgärtner U, Tiede W, Treede R‐D, Craig AD
- (2009) Explicit episodic memory for sensory‐discriminative components of capsaicin‐induced pain: immediate and delayed ratings. Pain 143: 97‐105
Jantsch HH, Gawlitza M, Geber C, Baumgärtner U, Krämer HH, Magerl W, Treede RD, Birklein F
- (2009) Sleep restriction attenuates amplitudes and attentional modulation of pain‐related evoked potentials, but augments pain ratings in healthy volunteers. Pain 148: 36‐42
Tiede W, Magerl W, Baumgärtner U, Durrer B, Ehlert U, Treede RD
- (2009) Structural and functional asymmetry in the human parietal opercular cortex. J Neurophysiol 101: 3246‐57
Jung P, Baumgärtner U, Stoeter P, Treede RD
- (2010) Multiple somatotopic representations of heat and mechanical pain in the operculo‐insular cortex: a high‐resolution fMRI study. J Neurophysiol 104: 2863‐2872
Baumgärtner U, Iannetti GD, Zambreanu L, Stoeter P, Treede RD, Tracey I
- (2013) Interoceptive and multimodal functions of the operculo‐insular cortex: Tactile, nociceptive and vestibular representations. Neuroimage 83:75‐86
zu Eulenburg P, Baumgärtner U, Treede RD, Dieterich M
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.057)
