title: A study on small-world brain functional networks altered by postherpetic neuralgia.
abstract: Understanding the effect of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) pain on brain activity is important for clinical strategies. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to relate PHN pain to small-world properties of brain functional networks. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to construct functional brain networks of the subjects during the resting state. Sixteen patients with PHN pain and 16 (8 males, 8 females for both groups) age-matched controls were studied. The PHN patients exhibited decreased local efficiency along with non-significant changes of global efficiency in comparison with the healthy controls. Moreover, regional nodal efficiency was found to be significantly affected by PHN pain in the areas related to sense (postcentral gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus and thalamus), memory/affective processes (parahippocampal gyrus) and emotional activities (putamen). Significant correlation (p<0.05) was also found between the nodal efficiency of putamen and pain intensity in PHN patients. Our results suggest that PHN modulates the local efficiency, and the small-world properties of brain networks may have potentials to objectively evaluate pain information in clinic.
authors: College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors: Yue
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Marcus Autism Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA; Biomedical Imaging Technology Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors: Longchuan
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Peking University Fist Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors: Minyi
authors: M
authors: Du
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Peking University Fist Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors: Wenxue
authors: W
authors: Fang
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Peking University Fist Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors: Dongxin
authors: D
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors: Xuexiang
authors: X
authors: Jiang
authors: Biomedical Imaging Technology Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors: Xiaoping
authors: X
authors: Hu
authors: College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: zhangjue@pku.edu.cn.
authors: Jue
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China. Electronic address: cjr.wangxiaoying@vip.163.com.
authors: Xiaoying
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Fang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051474:Neuralgia, Postherpetic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D058748:Pain Perception; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Brain functional networks; Chronic pain; Postherpetic neuralgia; Resting-state fMRI; Small-world