Equal pain – Unequal fear response: Enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioning
Experimental fear conditioning in humans is widely used as a model to investigate the neural basis of fear learning and to unravel the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders. It has been observed that fear conditioning depends on stimulus salience and subject vulnerability to fear. It is further known th...
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doaj-2c869fbf7f3d42448cc88bb195f98bec2020-11-25T03:28:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612014-07-01810.3389/fnhum.2014.0052682437Equal pain – Unequal fear response: Enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioningMichael Lukas Meier0Michael Lukas Meier1Nuno Miguel Prates De Matos2Mike eBruegger3Mike eBruegger4Nenad eLukic5Marcus eCheetham6Dominik eEttlin7Lutz eJaencke8Kai eLutz9Kai eLutz10University of ZurichBalgrist University HospitalUniversity of ZurichUniversity of ZurichSwiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of ZurichUniversity of ZurichUniversity of ZurichUniversity of ZurichUniversity of ZurichUniversity of ZurichCenter for Neurology and Rehabilitation cereneoExperimental fear conditioning in humans is widely used as a model to investigate the neural basis of fear learning and to unravel the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders. It has been observed that fear conditioning depends on stimulus salience and subject vulnerability to fear. It is further known that the prevalence of dental-related fear and phobia is exceedingly high in the population. Dental phobia is unique as no other body part is associated with a specific phobia. Therefore, we hypothesized that painful dental stimuli exhibit an enhanced susceptibility to fear conditioning when comparing to equal perceived stimuli applied to other body sites. Differential susceptibility to pain-related fear was investigated by analyzing responses to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) applied to the right maxillary canine (UCS-c) versus the right tibia (UCS-t). For fear conditioning, UCS-c and USC-t consisted of painful electric stimuli, carefully matched at both application sites for equal intensity and quality perception. UCSs were paired to simple geometrical forms which served as conditioned stimuli (CS+). Unpaired CS+ were presented for eliciting and analyzing conditioned fear responses. Outcome parameter were 1) skin conductance changes and 2) time-dependent brain activity (BOLD responses) in fear-related brain regions such as the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, thalamus, orbitofrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex.A preferential susceptibility of dental pain to fear conditioning was observed, reflected by heightened skin conductance responses and enhanced time-dependent brain activity (BOLD responses) in the fear network. For the first time, this study demonstrates fear-related neurobiological mechanisms that point towards a superior conditionability of tooth pain. Beside traumatic dental experiences our results offer novel evidence that might explain the high prevalence of dental-related fears in the population.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00526/fullAmygdalaPainToothFear conditioningfMRISkin conductance response |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Michael Lukas Meier Michael Lukas Meier Nuno Miguel Prates De Matos Mike eBruegger Mike eBruegger Nenad eLukic Marcus eCheetham Dominik eEttlin Lutz eJaencke Kai eLutz Kai eLutz |
spellingShingle |
Michael Lukas Meier Michael Lukas Meier Nuno Miguel Prates De Matos Mike eBruegger Mike eBruegger Nenad eLukic Marcus eCheetham Dominik eEttlin Lutz eJaencke Kai eLutz Kai eLutz Equal pain – Unequal fear response: Enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioning Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Amygdala Pain Tooth Fear conditioning fMRI Skin conductance response |
author_facet |
Michael Lukas Meier Michael Lukas Meier Nuno Miguel Prates De Matos Mike eBruegger Mike eBruegger Nenad eLukic Marcus eCheetham Dominik eEttlin Lutz eJaencke Kai eLutz Kai eLutz |
author_sort |
Michael Lukas Meier |
title |
Equal pain – Unequal fear response: Enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioning |
title_short |
Equal pain – Unequal fear response: Enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioning |
title_full |
Equal pain – Unequal fear response: Enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioning |
title_fullStr |
Equal pain – Unequal fear response: Enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioning |
title_full_unstemmed |
Equal pain – Unequal fear response: Enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioning |
title_sort |
equal pain – unequal fear response: enhanced susceptibility of tooth pain to fear conditioning |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
issn |
1662-5161 |
publishDate |
2014-07-01 |
description |
Experimental fear conditioning in humans is widely used as a model to investigate the neural basis of fear learning and to unravel the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders. It has been observed that fear conditioning depends on stimulus salience and subject vulnerability to fear. It is further known that the prevalence of dental-related fear and phobia is exceedingly high in the population. Dental phobia is unique as no other body part is associated with a specific phobia. Therefore, we hypothesized that painful dental stimuli exhibit an enhanced susceptibility to fear conditioning when comparing to equal perceived stimuli applied to other body sites. Differential susceptibility to pain-related fear was investigated by analyzing responses to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) applied to the right maxillary canine (UCS-c) versus the right tibia (UCS-t). For fear conditioning, UCS-c and USC-t consisted of painful electric stimuli, carefully matched at both application sites for equal intensity and quality perception. UCSs were paired to simple geometrical forms which served as conditioned stimuli (CS+). Unpaired CS+ were presented for eliciting and analyzing conditioned fear responses. Outcome parameter were 1) skin conductance changes and 2) time-dependent brain activity (BOLD responses) in fear-related brain regions such as the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, thalamus, orbitofrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex.A preferential susceptibility of dental pain to fear conditioning was observed, reflected by heightened skin conductance responses and enhanced time-dependent brain activity (BOLD responses) in the fear network. For the first time, this study demonstrates fear-related neurobiological mechanisms that point towards a superior conditionability of tooth pain. Beside traumatic dental experiences our results offer novel evidence that might explain the high prevalence of dental-related fears in the population. |
topic |
Amygdala Pain Tooth Fear conditioning fMRI Skin conductance response |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00526/full |
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