Acute pain is a warning protective sensation for any impending harm.However,chronic pain syndromes are often resistant diseases that may consume large amount of health care costs.It has been suggested by recent studies that pain perception may be formed in central neural networks via large-scale coding processes,which involves sensory,affective,and cognitive dimensions.Many central areas are involved in these processes,including structures from the spinal cord,the brain stem,the limbic system,to the cortices.Thus,chronic painful diseases may be the result of some abnormal coding within this network.A thorough investigation of coding mechanism of pain within the central neuromatrix will bring us great insight into the mechanisms responsible for the development of chronic pain,hence leading to novel therapeutic interventions for pain management.
The sensation of pain is critical for the survival of animals and humans. However, the brain mechanisms underlying pain perception remain largely unknown. How does the brain decode the pain-evoked activity into a particular sensory experience？ Over the past decade, attempts have been made to answer these questions by employing electrophysiological, functional brain imaging, and behavioral approaches, and some basic properties of pain formation have been revealed. Researchers have gradually recognized that there exists a distributed neural network that participates in the transmission and processing of pain information. These studies will further guide the development of more effective treatment for many disorders such as chronic pain.
