Acute Inflammatory Pain Induces Sex-different Brain Alpha Activity in Anesthetized Rats Through Optically Pumped Magnetometer Magnetoencephalography
Author:
Affiliation:

1)Health Science Center, Ningbo University, Ningbo315211, China;2)Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo315000, China;3)Department of Pain, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo315000, China

Clc Number:

Fund Project:

This work was supported by grants from The National Natural Science Foundation of China (82071239), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LY22H090003), Major Program of Ningbo Natural Science Foundation (2022J070), and Ningbo Medicine Science and Technology Plan Project (2021Y05).

  • Article
  • |
  • Figures
  • |
  • Metrics
  • |
  • Reference
  • |
  • Related
  • |
  • Cited by
  • |
  • Materials
  • |
  • Comments
    Abstract:

    Objective Magnetoencephalography (MEG), a non-invasive neuroimaging technique, meticulously captures the magnetic fields emanating from brain electrical activity. Compared with MEG based on superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID), MEG based on optically pump magnetometer (OPM) has the advantages of higher sensitivity, better spatial resolution and lower cost. However, most of the current studies are clinical studies, and there is a lack of animal studies on MEG based on OPM technology. Pain, a multifaceted sensory and emotional phenomenon, induces intricate alterations in brain activity, exhibiting notable sex differences. Despite clinical revelations of pain-related neuronal activity through MEG, specific properties remain elusive, and comprehensive laboratory studies on pain-associated brain activity alterations are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of inflammatory pain (induced by Complete Freund’s Adjuvant (CFA)) on brain activity in a rat model using the MEG technique, to analysis changes in brain activity during pain perception, and to explore sex differences in pain-related MEG signaling.Methods This study utilized adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. Inflammatory pain was induced via intraplantar injection of CFA (100 μl, 50% in saline) in the left hind paw, with control groups receiving saline. Pain behavior was assessed using von Frey filaments at baseline and 1 h post-injection. For MEG recording, anesthetized rats had an OPM positioned on their head within a magnetic shield, undergoing two 15-minute sessions: a 5-minute baseline followed by a 10-minute mechanical stimulation phase. Data analysis included artifact removal and time-frequency analysis of spontaneous brain activity using accumulated spectrograms, generating spectrograms focused on the 4-30 Hz frequency range.Results MEG recordings in anesthetized rats during resting states and hind paw mechanical stimulation were compared, before and after saline/CFA injections. Mechanical stimulation elevated alpha activity in both male and female rats pre- and post-saline/CFA injections. Saline/CFA injections augmented average power in both sexes compared to pre-injection states. Remarkably, female rats exhibited higher average spectral power 1 h after CFA injection than after saline injection during resting states. Furthermore, despite comparable pain thresholds measured by classical pain behavioral tests post-CFA treatment, female rats displayed higher average power than males in the resting state after CFA injection.Conclusion These results imply an enhanced perception of inflammatory pain in female rats compared to their male counterparts. Our study exhibits sex differences in alpha activities following CFA injection, highlighting heightened brain alpha activity in female rats during acute inflammatory pain in the resting state. Our study provides a method for OPM-based MEG recordings to be used to study brain activity in anaesthetized animals. In addition, the findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of pain-related neural activity and pain sex differences.

    Reference
    Related
    Cited by
Get Citation

MIAO Meng-Meng, REN Yu-Xuan, WU Wen-Wei, ZHANG Yu, PAN Chen, LIN Xiang-Hong, LIN Hui-Dan, CHEN Xiao-Wei. Acute Inflammatory Pain Induces Sex-different Brain Alpha Activity in Anesthetized Rats Through Optically Pumped Magnetometer Magnetoencephalography[J]. Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics,2025,52(1):244-257

Copy
Share
Article Metrics
  • Abstract:
  • PDF:
  • HTML:
  • Cited by:
History
  • Received:May 07,2024
  • Revised:November 13,2024
  • Accepted:July 23,2024
  • Online: July 24,2024
  • Published: January 28,2025