Neural processes underpinning pain perception : genetic, temporal, and behavioral factors

Pain is an alarm system – warning us of dangers in the environment – yet becomes problematic when it transitions into chronic pain. It is defined, according to the International Association of Pain as “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage”.

In advancing our knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of acute pain, it is relevant to understand sources of variability in pain perception. One such source is the genetic influence on brain function. This can be studied using a classic twin design to infer the proportion of variance in brain activation attributed to genetics. Another source of variation pertains to the temporal fluctuations in brain activity that could track pain processing. This was studied here using time-varying functional connectivity.

Furthermore, since pain arises through large-scale interactions in the brain – the purpose here is to study pain and related processes through network neuroscience. Specifically, how functionally specialized – or segregated – neural structures of the brain integrate to shape pain.

List of scientific papers

I. Kastrati, G., Rosén, J., Thompson, W.H., Chen, X., Larsson, H., Nichols, T.E., Tracey, I., Fransson, P., Åhs, F., & Jensen, K.B. (2022). Genetic Influence on Nociceptive Processing in the Human Brain-A Twin Study. Cerebral Cortex. 32(2): 266-274.
https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab206

II. Kastrati, G., Thompson, W.H., Schiffler, B., Fransson, P., & Jensen K.B. (2022). Brain Network Segregation and Integration during Painful Thermal Stimulation. Cerebral Cortex. bhab464.
https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab464

III. Kastrati G, Lagerbäck T, Thompson, et al. Brain networks, back morphology and gait 14 years after surgery for disc herniation in adolescence. [Manuscript]

IV. Kastrati, G., Rosén, J., Fredrikson, M., Chen, X., Kuja-Halkola, R., Larsson, H., Jensen, K.B., & Åhs, F. (2022). Genetic influences on central and peripheral nervous system activity during fear conditioning. Translational Psychiatry. 12(1): 95.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01861-w