title: Cortical neuroplastic changes to painful colon stimulation in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
abstract: The aim of this study was to model the cerebral generators following painful electrical stimulation of the sigmoid colon in 10 healthy controls and 10 patients with visceral pain due to the irritable bowel syndrome. The evoked brain potentials to 30 painful electrical stimuli from the sigmoid colon were recorded from 31 surface electrodes and subjected to electrical dipole source modelling. Two dipoles in the bilateral insular cortex, one dipole in the anterior cingulate gyrus and two dipoles in the bilateral second somatosensory area were found. The anterior cingulate dipole showed a more posterior position in patients than in control subjects. This finding suggests that the cortical representation of painful stimuli can be modified in presence of chronic visceral pain and that this change involves the anterior cingulate gyrus.
authors.affiliation: Center for Visceral Biomechanics and Pain, Department of Medical Gastroenterology, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark. drewes@smi.auc.dk
authors.forename: Asbjørn Mohr
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Drewes
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rössel
authors.forename: Domenica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Le Pera
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arendt-Nielsen
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valeriani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D003106:Colon / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects