Journal
NEUROIMAGE
Volume 26, Issue 2, Pages 642-646Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.02.001
Keywords
proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy; glutamate; pain
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Glutamate, a major excitatory neurotransmitter, has been implicated as an important mediator in the neurotransmission, potentiation, and negative affect associated with pain. We present results showing that a painful stimulus elicits a dynamic increase in glutamate (9.3% from baseline) concentrations in the anterior cingulate cortex, detectable using proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (H-1-MRS). Increases in glutamine levels were also seen, which correlate strongly with the subjective level of pain experienced by participants (r(2) = 0.58, P < 0.01). These novel findings are the first time a dynamic change in glutamate and glutamine levels from baseline in response to an external stimuli has been measured in a single proton MRS scanning session. As such, this report demonstrates the efficacy of H-1-MRS as a noninvasive tool for the study of neural responses to pain in vivo. The paradigm used in this study demonstrates that dynamic glutamate/glutamine changes due to stimulation are measurable by proton MRS, and could provide a means of testing novel pharmaceutical agents and other treatments for chronic pain. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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