Modeling the brain during pain processing

Date:
February 2, 2021
Source:
Springer
Summary:
Researchers show that inhibitory interneurons, which prevent
chemical messages from passing between different regions of the
brain, make up 20% of the circuitry in the brain required for
pain processing. The discovery represents a significant advance
in researchers' understanding of how our bodies and brains respond
to pain.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The many different sensations our bodies experience are accompanied by
deeply complex exchanges of information within the brain, and the feeling
of pain is no exception. So far, research has shown how pain intensity can
be directly related to specific patterns of oscillation in brain activity, which are altered by the activation and deactivation of the 'interneurons' connecting different regions of the brain. However, it remains unclear
how the process is affected by 'inhibitory' interneurons, which prevent chemical messages from passing between these regions. Through new research published in EPJ B, researchers led by Fernando Montani at Instituto de
Fi'sica La Plata, Argentina, show that inhibitory interneurons make up
20% of the circuitry in the brain required for pain processing.


==========================================================================
The discovery represents a significant advance in researchers'
understanding of how our bodies and brains respond to pain. The underlying circuitry of the pain process involves a specific configuration of interneurons, each of which link specific pairs of regions, or 'nodes'
within the brain. Crucially, a certain fraction of these neurons will
be inhibitory; varying the strengths of the connections they provide. To
create a biologically plausible model, Montani and colleagues would first
need to consider all possible links between specific pairs of nodes,
and determine their relative strengths. Within a structure as complex
as the brain, however, it would be virtually impossible to do this by considering each configuration individually.

The researchers overcame this issue using 'graph theory,' which studies structures made up of sets of nodes, which influence each other's
behaviours via links of variable strengths. Using a novel statistical
approach, they estimated the signals produced by each region of a virtual
brain in a given configuration, and how far they diverge from realistic
values. From their initial estimates, Montani's team could then build
up a realistic graph by strengthening and weakening the influences of
certain links. Their analysis revealed that a configuration where 20%
of all interneurons associated with the pain process are inhibitory to information transmission.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Springer. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Romina De Luise, Roman Baravalle, Osvaldo A. Rosso, Fernando
Montani.

Network configurations of pain: an efficiency characterization of
information transmission. The European Physical Journal B, 2021;
94 (1) DOI: 10.1140/epjb/s10051-021-00046-6 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210202164516.htm

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