Pain-related neurons in the human cingulate cortex

Although it is widely accepted that the cortex participates in pain perception, there is no direct evidence for the existence of cortical neurons that respond to noxious or painful stimuli in humans. Anatomical and neurophysiological studies in animals as well as brain imaging and evoked potential studies in humans suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is an important area for processing sensory information related to pain. We have now identified single neurons in ACC that respond selectively to painful thermal and mechanical stimuli, supporting a role for the ACC in pain perception.

[1]  M. Torrens.  Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain—3-Dimensional Proportional System: An Approach to Cerebral Imaging, J. Talairach, P. Tournoux. Georg Thieme Verlag, New York (1988), 122 pp., 130 figs. DM 268 , 1990 .

[2]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Multiple representations of pain in human cerebral cortex. , 1991, Science.

[3]  B. Vogt,et al.  Nociceptive neurons in area 24 of rabbit cingulate cortex. , 1992, Journal of neurophysiology.

[4]  C. Olson,et al.  Functional heterogeneity in cingulate cortex: the anterior executive and posterior evaluative regions. , 1992, Cerebral cortex.

[5]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Distributed processing of pain and vibration by the human brain , 1994, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[6]  J. Dostrovsky,et al.  Microelectrode monitoring of cortical and subcortical structures during stereotactic surgery. , 1995, Acta neurochirurgica. Supplement.

[7]  R. Koeppe,et al.  Comparison of human cerebral activation pattern during cutaneous warmth, heat pain, and deep cold pain. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[8]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Functional imaging of an illusion of pain , 1996, Nature.

[9]  B. Vogt,et al.  Pain Processing in Four Regions of Human Cingulate Cortex Localized with Co‐registered PET and MR Imaging , 1996, The European journal of neuroscience.

[10]  M. L. Wood,et al.  Functional MRI of pain- and attention-related activations in the human cingulate cortex. , 1997, Journal of neurophysiology.

[11]  M. Bushnell,et al.  Pain affect encoded in human anterior cingulate but not somatosensory cortex. , 1997, Science.

[12]  A. Mikami,et al.  Nociceptive neurons in the macaque anterior cingulate activate during anticipation of pain , 1998, Neuroreport.

[13]  R P Lesser,et al.  Painful stimuli evoke potentials recorded over the human anterior cingulate gyrus. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.