ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Translational Neuroscience
Characteristic of Cerebral Hemodynamics and Functional Connectivity in Patients with Neuropathic Pain after Spinal Cord Injury: An Exploratory Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 2Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing, China
- 3China Rehabilitation Research Center, Beijing, China
- 4Beihang University, Beijing, China
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Background: This study investigated the brain functional characteristics of patients with neuropathic pain (NP) following spinal cord injury (SCI) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Methods: A total of 35 subjects were enrolled, including 10 able-bodied controls, 12 patients with SCI and NP (SCI-NP), and 13 patients with SCI (without NP). fNIRS was used to detected blood oxygen signals during motor tasks and resting-state (RS) functional connectivity (FC) in the subjects. We also performed Pearson correlation analyses of pain scores (NPS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in patients with SCI-NP. Statistical analyses were performed using Shapiro-Wilk test for normality; paired t-test for intra-group differences; ANOVA (LSD post-hoc, Bonferroni-corrected) for multi-group comparisons; Cohen's d/partial η² for effect size; independent samples t-test (FDR-corrected) for inter-group FC differences. Results: During the task state, patients with SCI-NP activated bilateral primary somatosensory cortex (S1, L/R P=0.044/0.032), bilateral supplementary motor area(SMA, L/R P=0.041/0.037), right primary motor cortex and left parietal lobe (LPL, P=0.047) . Hemodynamic changes in the bilateral S1, secondary somatosensory cortex, SMA, and right prefrontal cortex of patients with SCI-NP were significantly stronger than those in the other two groups. During RS, the whole-brain and most inter/intra-regional FC strength trended able-bodied controls> patients with SCI> patients with SCI-NP. NPS strongly correlated with LPL (r=0.977, P=0.004); PSQI correlated with motor cortex HbO changes (r=0.889~0.975, P=0.005~0.043). Conclusion: Patients with SCI-NP exhibit significant abnormal cerebral cortical excitation and reduced FC. HbO is a potential biomarker for evaluating NP. fNIRS supports objective assessment of SCI-NP and rehabilitation strategy formulation.[ChiCTR2500097098]
Keywords: Spinal cord injury (SCI)1, Neuropathic pain (NP)2, Functional near-infraredspectroscopy (fNIRS)3, oxyhemoglobin (HbO)4, Functional connectivity (FC)5
Received: 08 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Ma, Cheng, Huang, Lei, Su, Huang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Fubiao Huang
Fang-Yong Wang
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