Longitudinal FDG microPET imaging of neuropathic pain: does cerebellar activity correlate with neuropathic pain development in a rat model?

• Published in: Acta neurochirurgica Vol. 157; no. 6; pp. 1051 - 1057
• Main Authors: Kim, Jinhyung, Shin, Jaewoo, Oh, Jin-Hwan, Jung, Hyun Ho, Kim, Young-Bo, Cho, Zang-Hee, Chang, Jin Woo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.06.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Cerebellum - diagnostic imaging; Cerebellum - physiopathology; Experimental Research - Functional; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Interventional Radiology; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Minimally Invasive Surgery; Neuralgia - diagnostic imaging; Neuralgia - etiology; Neuralgia - physiopathology; Neurology; Neuroradiology; Neurosurgery; Pain Measurement - methods; Peripheral Nerve Injuries - complications; Peripheral Nerve Injuries - diagnostic imaging; Peripheral Nerve Injuries - physiopathology; Radionuclide Imaging; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sural Nerve - injuries; Surgical Orthopedics; Tibial Nerve - injuries; Cerebellum; FDG; microPET; Neuromodulation; Neuropathic pain
• ISSN: 0001-6268; 0942-0940
• DOI: 10.1007/s00701-015-2415-7

Background We used [F-18] FDG microPET imaging as part of a longitudinal study to investigate changes in the brain. Methods Glucose metabolism during the development of neuropathic pain after tibial and sural nerve transection (TST) model rats. MicroPET images were obtained 1 week before operation and then weekly for 8 weeks post-operation. Results The behavioral test was performed immediately after the every FDG administration. After TST modeling, neuropathic pain rats showed increased mechanical sensitivity of the injured hind paw. The withdrawal response to mechanical pain stimulation by von Frey filaments was observed within the first week (3.8 ± 0.73), and it rapidly increased in the third week (7.13 ± 0.82). This response reached a peak in the fourth week after surgery (9.0 ± 0.53), which persisted until the eighth week. In microPET scan imaging, cerebellum, which initially started from the ansiform lobule, was activated gradually to all part from the third week in all image acquisitions through the eighth week. Conclusions The longitudinal microPET scan study of brains from neuropathic pain rat models showed sequential cerebellar activity that was in accordance with results from behavioral test responses, thus supporting a role for the cerebellum in the development of neuropathic pain.