Journal ArticleDOI
Phantom limb pain: a case of maladaptive CNS plasticity?
TLDR
Evidence for putative pathophysiological mechanisms with an emphasis on central, and in particular cortical, changes is discussed and suggestions for innovative interventions aimed at alleviating phantom pain are derived.Abstract:
Phantom pain refers to pain in a body part that has been amputated or deafferented. It has often been viewed as a type of mental disorder or has been assumed to stem from pathological alterations in the region of the amputation stump. In the past decade, evidence has accumulated that phantom pain might be a phenomenon of the CNS that is related to plastic changes at several levels of the neuraxis and especially the cortex. Here, we discuss the evidence for putative pathophysiological mechanisms with an emphasis on central, and in particular cortical, changes. We cite both animal and human studies and derive suggestions for innovative interventions aimed at alleviating phantom pain.read more
Citations
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Experience-dependent structural synaptic plasticity in the mammalian brain.
Anthony Holtmaat,Karel Svoboda +1 more
TL;DR: Recent evidence for structural forms of synaptic plasticity in the mammalian cortex involves cell type-specific structural plasticity: some boutons and dendritic spines appear and disappear, accompanied by synapse formation and elimination, respectively.
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Models and Mechanisms of Hyperalgesia and Allodynia
TL;DR: This review focuses on highly topical spinal mechanisms of hyperalgesia and allodynia including intrinsic and synaptic plasticity, the modulation of inhibitory control, and neuroimmune interactions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Training-Induced Brain Structure Changes in the Elderly
TL;DR: Elderly persons were able to learn three-ball cascade juggling, but with less proficiency compared with 20-year-old adolescents, and gray-matter changes in the older brain related to skill acquisition were observed in area hMT/V5 (middle temporal area of the visual cortex).
Journal ArticleDOI
Tuning out the noise: limbic-auditory interactions in tinnitus.
TL;DR: A testable model for tinnitus is proposed that is grounded in recent findings from human imaging and focuses on brain areas in cortex, thalamus, and ventral striatum and aims to enable the development of effective treatment.
Journal ArticleDOI
Chronic pain may change the structure of the brain
TL;DR: The author suggests that the gray matter change observed in chronic pain patients are the consequence of frequent nociceptive input and should thus be reversible when pain is adequately treated.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body.
TL;DR: Functional anatomical work has detailed an afferent neural system in primates and in humans that represents all aspects of the physiological condition of the physical body that might provide a foundation for subjective feelings, emotion and self-awareness.
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Increased Cortical Representation of the Fingers of the Left Hand in String Players
TL;DR: The results suggest that the representation of different parts of the body in the primary somatosensory cortex of humans depends on use and changes to conform to the current needs and experiences of the individual.
Journal ArticleDOI
BDNF from microglia causes the shift in neuronal anion gradient underlying neuropathic pain
Jeffrey A. M. Coull,Simon Beggs,Dominic Boudreau,Dominick Boivin,Makoto Tsuda,Kazuhide Inoue,Claude Gravel,Michael W. Salter,Yves De Koninck +8 more
TL;DR: It is shown that ATP-stimulated microglia cause a depolarizing shift in the anion reversal potential (Eanion) in spinal lamina I neurons, and that BDNF is a crucial signalling molecule betweenmicroglia and neurons.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phantom-limb pain as a perceptual correlate of cortical reorganization following arm amputation
Herta Flor,Thomas Elbert,Stefan Knecht,Christian Wienbruch,Christo Pantev,Niels Birbaumer,Wolfgang Larbig,Edward Taub +7 more
TL;DR: A very strong direct relationship is reported between the amount of cortical reorganization and the magnitude of phantom limb pain (but not non-painful phantom phenomena) experienced after arm amputation, indicating that phantom-limb pain is related to, and may be a consequence of, plastic changes in primary somatosensory cortex.