Central representation of visceral and cutaneous hypersensitivity in the XXXX .

@entity1 @entity1931 @entity5584 @entity1744
We have previously shown that @entity1744 ( @entity1744 ) @entity1 have both visceral and cutaneous @entity1931 . The neural mechanisms of these forms of @entity1931 were further characterized by comparing cortical processing of both @entity5584 (35, 55mmHg) and cutaneous heat nociceptive stimuli (foot immersion in 45 and 47 degrees C water bath) in @entity1744 @entity1 and in a group of healthy age/sex-matched controls. Our approach relied on functional magnetic resonance imaging neuroimaging analyses in which brain activation in age/sex-matched control subjects was subtracted from that found in @entity1744 @entity1 . These analyses revealed that both @entity5584 and cutaneous heat stimuli evoked greater neural activity in several brain regions of @entity1744 @entity1 in comparison to age/sex-matched control subjects. These include those related to early stages of somatosensory processing (e.g. thalamus, somatosensory cortex) as well as those more related to cognitive and affective processing (insular, anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, prefrontal cortex). Thus, our results support the hypothesis that @entity1931 of @entity1744 is manifested by increased somatosensory processing at all cortical levels. This was found to be the case not only for @entity1931 but also for cutaneous @entity1931 , a likely form of secondary @entity1931 . Furthermore, visceral and @entity1931 were accompanied by increased neural activity within the same brain structures. These results support the hypothesis that visceral and cutaneous @entity1931 in @entity1744 @entity1 is related to increased afferent processing in pathways ascending to the brain rather than to selectively increased activity at higher cortical levels (e.g. limbic and frontal cortical areas).
