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- Title
Altered brain activities in mesocorticolimbic pathway in primary dysmenorrhea patients of long-term menstrual pain.
- Authors
Ni Liu; Yingqiu Li; Yueying Hong; Jianwei Huo; Tai Chang; Haoyuan Wang; Yiran Huang; Wenxun Li; Yanan Zhang
- Abstract
Background: Patients with primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) often present with abnormalities other than dysmenorrhea including co-occurrence with other chronic pain conditions and central sensitization. Changes in brain activity in PDM have been demonstrated; however, the results are not consistent. Herein, this study probed into altered intraregional and interregional brain activity in patients with PDM and expounded more findings. Methods: A total of 33 patients with PDMand 36 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and underwent a resting-state functionalmagnetic resonance imaging scan. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and mean amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (mALFF) analysis were applied to compare the difference in intraregional brain activity between the two groups, and the regions with ReHo and mALFF group differences were used as seeds for functional connectivity (FC) analysis to explore the difference of interregional activity. Pearson's correlation analysis was conducted between rs-fMRI data and clinical symptoms in patients with PDM. Results: Compared with HCs, patients with PDM showed altered intraregional activity in a series of brain regions, including the hippocampus, the temporal pole superior temporal gyrus, the nucleus accumbens, the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, the cerebellum_8, the middle temporal gyrus, the inferior temporal gyrus, the rolandic operculum, the postcentral gyrus and the middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and altered interregional FC mainly between regions of the mesocorticolimbic pathway and regions associated with sensation and movement. The anxiety symptoms are correlated with the intraregional activity of the right temporal pole superior temporal gyrus and FC between MFG and superior frontal gyrus. Conclusion: Our study showed amore comprehensivemethod to explore changes in brain activity in PDM. We found that the mesocorticolimbic pathway might play a key role in the chronic transformation of pain in PDM. We, therefore, speculate that the modulation of the mesocorticolimbic pathway may be a potential novel therapeutic mechanism for PDM.
- Subjects
DYSMENORRHEA; TEMPORAL lobe; PREFRONTAL cortex; PEARSON correlation (Statistics); CINGULATE cortex; NUCLEUS accumbens
- Publication
Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2023, Vol 17, p1
- ISSN
1662-4548
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3389/fnins.2023.1098573