The Localization Research of Brain Plasticity Changes after Brachial Plexus Pain: Sensory Regions or Cognitive Regions?

Objective: Neuropathic pain after brachial plexus injury remains an increasingly prevalent and intractable disease due to inadequacy of satisfactory treatment strategies. A detailed mapping of cortical regions concerning the brain plasticity was the first step of therapeutic intervention. However, the specific mapping research of brachial plexus pain was limited. We aimed to provide some localization information about the brain plasticity changes after brachial plexus pain in this preliminary study.

Methods: 24 Sprague-Dawley rats received complete brachial plexus avulsion with neuropathic pain on the right forelimb successfully. Through functional imaging of both resting-state and block-design studies, we compared the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of premodeling and postmodeling groups and the changes of brain activation when applying sensory stimulation.

Results: The postmodeling group showed significant decreases on the mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) in the bilateral hindpaws and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) in the left hindpaw than the premodeling group ( < 0.05). The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of the postmodeling group manifested increases in regions of the left anterodorsal hippocampus, left mesencephalic region, left dorsal midline thalamus, and so on. Decreased ALFF was observed in the bilateral entorhinal cortex compared to that of the premodeling group. The results of block-design scan showed significant differences in regions including the limbic/paralimbic system and somatosensory cortex.

Conclusion: We concluded that the entorhinal-hippocampus pathway, which was part of the Papez circuit, was involved in the functional integrated areas of brachial plexus pain processing. The regions in the "pain matrix" showed expected activation when applying instant nociceptive stimulus but remained silent in the resting status. This research confirmed the involvement of cognitive function, which brought novel information to the potential new therapy for brachial plexus pain.