Silke Kreitz1, Cornelia Heindl-Erdmann1,
Roland Axmann2, Jochen Zwerina2, Josef Penninger3,
Georg Schett2, Kay Brune1, Andreas Hess1
1Institute for Pharmacology
& Toxicology, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany; 2Internal
Medicine 3, Rheumatology & Immunology, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen,
Germany; 3Institute of Molecular Biology, Austrian Academy of
Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Resting state analysis of brain activity in (transgenic) mice was performed before and after peripheral heat stimulation. Painless mice (DREAM -/-), having permanent analgesia due to modification of the dynorphin pain pathway, showed no change in their resting state network connectivity after the painful stimulation compared to wild-type mice. Pharmacological compensation of their genetic modification, reestablished plastic effects of the painful stimulation on the resting state network. These results demonstrate the usefulness of non invasive fMRI in transgenic mice and molecular defined pharmacological intervention to further investigation of functional connectivity in pain research.