14/08/2008 - A combined [11C]diprenorphine PET study and fMRI study of acupuncture analgesia.
Country: USA Institute: Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School, MA 02129, USA; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Center, MGH, Charlestown, Author(s): Dougherty DD, Kong J, Webb M, Bonab AA, Fischman AJ, Gollub RL. Journal: Behav Brain Res. 2008 Nov 3;193(1):63-68. Abstract: Functional neuroimaging studies suggest that a lateral network in the brain is associated with the sensory aspects of pain perception while a medial network is associated with affective aspects.
The highest concentration of opioid receptors is in the medial network. There is significant evidence that endogenous opioids are central to the experience of pain and analgesia. We applied an integrative multimodal imaging approach during acupuncture.
We found functional magnetic resonance imaging signal changes in the orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and pons and [11C]diprenorphine positron emission tomography signal changes in the orbitofrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, insula, thalamus, and anterior cingulate cortex.
These findings include brain regions within both the lateral and medial pain networks. Full text: 
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Pubmed ID: 18562019 | 
