title: Cerebellar Clustering and Functional Connectivity During Pain Processing.
abstract: The cerebellum has been traditionally considered a sensory-motor structure, but more recently has been related to other cognitive and affective functions. Previous research and meta-analytic studies suggested that it could be involved in pain processing. Our aim was to distinguish the functional networks subserved by the cerebellum during pain processing. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on 12 subjects undergoing mechanical pain stimulation and resting state acquisition. For the analysis of data, we used fuzzy c-mean to cluster cerebellar activity of each participant during nociception. The mean time courses of the clusters were used as regressors in a general linear model (GLM) analysis to explore brain functional connectivity (FC) of the cerebellar clusters. We compared our results with the resting state FC of the same cluster and explored with meta-analysis the behavior profile of the FC networks. We identified three significant clusters: cluster V, involving the culmen and quadrangular lobules (vermis IV-V, hemispheres IV-V-VI); cluster VI, involving the posterior quadrangular lobule and superior semilunar lobule (hemisphere VI, crus 1, crus 2), and cluster VII, involving the inferior semilunar lobule (VIIb, crus1, crus 2). Cluster V was more connected during pain with sensory-motor areas, cluster VI with cognitive areas, and cluster VII with emotional areas. Our results indicate that during the application of mechanical punctate stimuli, the cerebellum is not only involved in sensory functions but also with areas typically associated with cognitive and affective functions. Cerebellum seems to be involved in various aspects of nociception, reflecting the multidimensionality of pain perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|GCS-fMRI, Koelliker Hospital, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diano
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, AOU S. Giovanni Battista, University of Turin, Via Cherasco 15, 10126, Turin, Italy. federico.dagata@unito.it.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Agata
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|GCS-fMRI, Koelliker Hospital, Turin, Italy.|NIT, Neuroscience Institute of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cauda
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|GCS-fMRI, Koelliker Hospital, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Imaging and Plasticity Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Geda
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|NIT, Neuroscience Institute of Turin, Turin, Italy.|Imaging and Plasticity Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sacco
authors.affiliation: GCS-fMRI, Koelliker Hospital, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Duca
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|GCS-fMRI, Koelliker Hospital, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Torta
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|GCS-fMRI, Koelliker Hospital, Turin, Italy.|NIT, Neuroscience Institute of Turin, Turin, Italy.|National Institute of Neuroscience-Italy, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Geminiani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D058748:Pain Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D012146:Rest
keywords: Cerebellum; Functional connectivity; Fuzzy clustering; Pain