Give me a pain that I am used to: distinct habituation patterns to painful and non-painful stimulation.

Pain habituation is associated with a decrease of activation in brain areas related to pain perception. However, little is known about the specificity of these decreases to pain, as habituation has also been described for other responses like spinal reflexes and other sensory responses. Thus, it might be hypothesized that previously reported reductions in activation are not specifically related to pain habituation. For this reason, we performed a 3 T fMRI study using either painful or non-painful electrical stimulation via an electrode attached to the back of the left hand. Contrasting painful vs. non-painful stimulation revealed significant activation clusters in regions well-known to be related to pain processing, such as bilateral anterior and posterior insula, primary/secondary sensory cortices (S1/S2) and anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC). Importantly, our results show distinct habituation patterns for painful (in aMCC) and non-painful (contralateral claustrum) stimulation, while similar habituation for both types of stimulation was identified in bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and contralateral S2. Our findings thus distinguish a general habituation in somatosensory processing (S2) and reduced attention (IFG) from specific pain and non-pain related habituation effects where pain-specific habituation effects within the aMCC highlight a change in affective pain perception.

Beyond Sharing Unpleasant Affect-Evidence for Pain-Specific Opioidergic Modulation of Empathy for Pain.

It is not known how specific the neural mechanisms underpinning empathy for different domains are. In the present study, we set out to test whether shared neural representations between first-hand pain and empathy for pain are pain-specific or extend to empathy for unpleasant affective touch as well. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and psychopharmacological experiments, we investigated if placebo analgesia reduces first-hand and empathic experiences of affective touch, and compared them with the effects on pain. Placebo analgesia also affected the first-hand and empathic experience of unpleasant touch, implicating domain-general effects. However, and in contrast to pain and pain empathy, administering an opioid antagonist did not block these effects. Moreover, placebo analgesia reduced neural activity related to both modalities in the bilateral insular cortex, while it specifically modulated activity in the anterior midcingulate cortex for pain and pain empathy. These findings provide causal evidence that one of the major neurochemical systems for pain regulation is involved in pain empathy, and crucially substantiates the role of shared representations in empathy.

UPEC biomimickry at the urothelial barrier: lectin-functionalized PLGA microparticles for improved intravesical chemotherapy.

The urgent demand for more potent treatment schedules in bladder cancer (BCa) therapy calls for a refinement of the intravesical administration modalities. However, progress on drug delivery systems tailored to the penetration-hostile urothelial barrier lags behind the advancements in comparable fields. This study reports on a multimodal, carrier-based delivery concept that combines biorecognitive targeting with modified release strategies for improved intravesical chemotherapy. The plant lectin wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) was immobilized on poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microparticles (MP) to induce stable cytoadhesion via cellular carbohydrate chains, similar to the specific attachment mechanism utilized by uropathogenic bacteria. A panel of DNA-selective chemotherapeutics with established track record in uro-oncology was screened for physicochemical compatibility with the polymeric carrier formulation. Critical limitations in encapsulation efficiency were found for mitomycin C (MMC), doxorubicin (DOX), and gemcitabine hydrochloride (GEM), despite multiparametric optimization of the preparation conditions. In contrast, the amphiphilic 4-(N)-stearoyl prodrug of gemcitabine (GEM-C18) exhibited excellent processability with PLGA. In vitro bioassays on 5637 human BCa cells showed that the enhanced cytoadhesion of WGA-GEM-C18-PGLA-MP traces back to the specific lectin/carbohydrate interaction, and is not easily disrupted by adverse environmental factors. Owing to several synergistic effects, the combined prodrug/targeting approach resulted in strong cytostatic response even when adjusting the exposure scheme to the confined temporal conditions of instillative treatment. Our results highlight the importance of fine-tuning both pharmacokinetic and pharmacologic parameters to gain adequate impact on urothelial cancer cells, and assign promising potential to glycan-targeted delivery concepts for the intravesical route.