Abnormal functional neurocircuitry underpinning emotional processing in fibromyalgia.
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
; 274(1): 151-164, 2024 Feb.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36961564
ABSTRACT
Fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by chronic pain, is frequently accompanied by emotional disturbances. Here we aimed to study brain activation and functional connectivity (FC) during processing of emotional stimuli in fibromyalgia. Thirty female patients with fibromyalgia and 31 female healthy controls (HC) were included. Psychometric tests were administered to measure alexithymia, affective state, and severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Next, participants performed an emotion processing and regulation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We performed a 2 × 2 ANCOVA to analyze main effects and interactions of the stimuli valence (positive or negative) and group (fibromyalgia or HC) on brain activation. Generalized psychophysiological interaction analysis was used to assess task-dependent FC of brain regions previously associated with emotion processing and fibromyalgia (i.e., hippocampus, amygdala, anterior insula, and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex [pACC]). The left superior lateral occipital cortex showed more activation in fibromyalgia during emotion processing than in HC, irrespective of valence. Moreover, we found an interaction effect (valence x group) in the FC between the left pACC and the precentral and postcentral cortex, and central operculum, and premotor cortex. These results suggest abnormal brain activation and connectivity underlying emotion processing in fibromyalgia, which could help explain the high prevalence of psychopathological symptoms in this condition.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Fibromyalgia
Type of study:
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article