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Abstract #5645

The subjective intensity of pain in healthy subjects is inversely correlate with posterior insular GABA levels

Margot Thiaucourt1, Polina Shabes2, Natalie Schloss3, Markus Sack1, Ulf Baumgaertner2, Christian Schmahl3, and Gabriele Ende1

1Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany, 2Center for Biomedicine and Medical Technology Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany, 3Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

We present single voxel MEGA-PRESS MRS data from the posterior insula of 20 healthy women demonstrating a significant association of GABA and the subjective pain thresholds. These findings are in good agreement with the postulated role of the posterior insula for pain information processing. In this region pain is first processed and the sensory aspects of pain perception is elaborated and then conveyed to the anterior insula where it is related to emotional and cognitive aspects of pain perception. The data corroborate that GABA levels seem to be an important mediator for pain perception.

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