title: Brain correlates of short-term habituation to repetitive electrical noxious stimulation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Habituation to repetitive noxious stimuli is a well-known phenomenon. We investigated brain correlates of habituation to pain in a transdermal electrical pain model using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Electrical painful stimulation with 1 Hz was applied to the volar forearm of 48 healthy subjects for 45 min. Before and after conditioning stimulation, psychophysical testing and fMRI were performed. During fMRI sessions, the subjects underwent blockwise painful electrical stimulation with a fixed percept-adapted current intensity. After fMRI 1 and fMRI 2 subjects rated the individual pain intensity of the electrical stimulus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Substantial habituation occurred during conditioning electrical stimulation. Accordingly, areas typically involved in pain processing showed decreased activity after conditioning stimulation. The blood oxygen level-dependent signal of the subgenual anterior cingulate gyrus, the superior parietal lobule and the supplemental motor area correlated positively with habituation. In contrast, activity in the periaqueductal grey, thalamus and insula correlated negatively. The results of the correlation analyses did not survive correction for multiple comparisons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With this study, we identified central components associated with habituation to repetitive painful stimuli. The results suggest that an increase in tonic inhibitory activity in cortical pain processing areas is a major mechanism contributing to habituation to phasic noxious stimuli. Moreover, areas involved in descending pain modulation were differentially modulated. This may hint at a simultaneous activation of facilitating and inhibiting nociceptive systems that are both altered in the transdermal electrical pain model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: F T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Nickel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Möhringer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saake
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dörfler
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Seifert
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maihöfner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006930:Hyperalgesia / Q000503:physiopathology; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D010487:Periaqueductal Gray / Q000502:physiology; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011601:Psychophysics; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult