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Abstract #1062

On the Complexity of the BOLD Response to Painful Heat, Relationship of the Response with Self-Assessment of Pain and Implications for FMRI Sensitivity to Analgesic Treatment

Alexandre Coimbra1,2, Richard Baumgartner, 2,3, Sonya Apreleva, 2,3, Jaymin Upadhyay, 2,4, Adam Schwarz, 2,5, Julie Anderson, 2,4, Lauren Nutile, 2,4, Gautam Pendse, 2,4, James Bishop, 2,4, Ed George, ,2,4, Smiriti Iyengar, 2,5, David Bleakman, 2,5, Richard Hargreaves, 2,6, Jeff Evelhoch1,2, Lino Becerra, 2,4, David Borsook, 2,4

1Imaging, Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA, United States; 2Imaging Consortium for Drug Development, Belmont, MA, United States; 3Biometrics, Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ, United States; 4PAIN, McLean Group, Belmont, MA, United States; 5Lilly Research Laboratories, Indianapolis, IN, United States; 6Neurosciences, Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA, United States


The complexity of the experience of pain is reflected in the functional MRI BOLD response to painful stimuli. Several publications reported on a biphasic BOLD response composed of an early phase closely locked with stimulus time, and a late phase which some have suggested is related to self-assessment of pain. In a placebo controlled study of painful heat, the GLM approach was used to generate quantitative measures and address the issue of sensitivity of these endpoints to Buprenorphine treatment (BUP); with a focus on endpoints related to early, stimulus-locked, and late phase modeled by self-assessment.