Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Corticostriatal functional connectivity predicts transition to chronic back pain

Nature Neuroscience volume 15, pages 1117–1119 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The mechanism of brain reorganization in pain chronification is unknown. In a longitudinal brain imaging study, subacute back pain (SBP) patients were followed over the course of 1 year. When pain persisted (SBPp, in contrast to recovering SBP and healthy controls), brain gray matter density decreased. Initially greater functional connectivity of nucleus accumbens with prefrontal cortex predicted pain persistence, implying that corticostriatal circuitry is causally involved in the transition from acute to chronic pain.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Changes in global and regional gray matter density over 1 year.
Figure 2: Functional connectivity of NAc and insula.
Figure 3: mPFC-NAc functional connectivity predicts pain chronification.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Apkarian, A.V., Hashmi, J.A. & Baliki, M.N . Pain 152, S49–S64 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Chou, R. & Shekelle, P. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 303, 1295–1302 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Woolf, C.J. & Salter, M.W. Science 288, 1765–1769 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Baliki, M.N., Schnitzer, T.J., Bauer, W.R. & Apkarian, A.V. PLoS ONE 6, e26010 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Yarkoni, T., Poldrack, R.A., Nichols, T.E., Van Essen, D.C. & Wager, T.D. Nat. Methods 8, 665–670 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Baliki, M.N. et al. J. Neurosci. 26, 12165–12173 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Baliki, M.N., Geha, P.Y., Fields, H.L. & Apkarian, A.V. Neuron 66, 149–160 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Baliki, M.N., Geha, P.Y. & Apkarian, A.V. J. Neurophysiol. 101, 875–887 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Isnard, J., Magnin, M., Jung, J., Mauguière, F. & Garcia-Larrea, L. Pain 152, 946–951 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Seminowicz, D.A. et al. J Neurosci 31, 7540–7550 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Ungless, M.A., Magill, P.J. & Bolam, J.P. Science 303, 2040–2042 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Seymour, B. et al. Nature 429, 664–667 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Zubieta, J.K. et al. J. Neurosci. 25, 7754–7762 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Johansen, J.P. & Fields, H.L. Nat. Neurosci. 7, 398–403 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Chanda, M.L. et al. J. Pain 12, 792–800 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Smith, S.M. & Nichols, T.E. Neuroimage 44, 83–98 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Baliki, M.N., Geha, P.Y., Apkarian, A.V. & Chialvo, D.R. J. Neurosci. 28, 1398–1403 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Fox, M.D. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102, 9673–9678 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank all of the patients and healthy volunteers that participated in the study. The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS35115). M.N.B. was funded by an anonymous foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Marwan N Baliki, Bogdan Petre, Souraya Torbey, Kristina M Herrmann, Lejian Huang & A Vania Apkarian

  2. Department of Rheumatology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Thomas J Schnitzer

  3. Department of Neurology and the Ernest Gallo Clinic & Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, Emeryville, California, USA

    Howard L Fields

  4. Departments of Anesthesia and Surgery, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    A Vania Apkarian

Authors
  1. Marwan N Baliki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bogdan Petre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Souraya Torbey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kristina M Herrmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lejian Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Thomas J Schnitzer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Howard L Fields
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. A Vania Apkarian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.N.B. conducted the experiment, analyzed the data and prepared and wrote the manuscript. B.P. contributed to data collection and analysis. S.T. recruited subjects and conducted the experiment. K.M.H. contributed to data collection. L.H. performed data quality control. T.J.S. recruited subjects and edited the manuscript. H.L.F. wrote the manuscript. A.V.A. designed and supervised the experiment and wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A Vania Apkarian.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–9 and Supplementary Tables 1–4 (PDF 2122 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Baliki, M., Petre, B., Torbey, S. et al. Corticostriatal functional connectivity predicts transition to chronic back pain. Nat Neurosci 15, 1117–1119 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3153

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3153

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing