Brain Imaging For Tracking How Pain Drugs Work

Today's post from dddmag.com (see link below) looks at a study of how pregabalin (Lyrica) works by using brain imaging procedures. If you're like me you may find this difficult reading because of the complexity of the language used but the idea of brain-imaging (to study how a particular drug used to control neuropathic symptoms works) is a concept that is not so difficult to envisage. If the purpose is to be able to study all drugs that interact via the brain and judge their efficiency, then it seems a logical step forward in improving treatment or at least identifying which drugs work best. People living with either diabetes, or HIV and neuropathy should always be aware that the manufacturers (Pfizer) of pregabalin, have withdrawn their positive advice regarding its treatment of neuropathy. There are serious side effects issues which need to be taken into consideration and at the moment, it is regarded as a non-approved drug for neuropathy linked to those two other conditions.

Brain Imaging Reveals How Pain Medicines Work
Source: University of Michigan Tue, 11/19/2013

A study in the December issue of Anesthesiology suggests a role for brain imaging in the assessment and potential treatment of chronic pain.

University of Michigan researchers used brain imaging procedures to track the clinical action of pregabalin, a drug known by the brand name Lyrica that is prescribed to patients suffering from fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain.

Three different brain imaging procedures were performed–-proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, functional magnetic resonance imaging and functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging–-in 17 patients with fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder thought to result from a disturbance in the way the central nervous system processes pain. It affects an estimated 10 million people in the United States and 3 to 6% of the world population.

Patients with fibromyalgia may spontaneously report pain throughout their bodies although there is no inflammatory or anatomical damage. In addition to chronic pain, patients may also suffer from related mood disturbances, such as anxiety and depression.

Previous research has shown that fibromyalgia patients may have heightened neural activity in a region of the brain involved in processing pain and emotion called the insula, and that this excess activity may be related to elevated levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate.

Brain imaging conducted at the U-M Health System suggests pregabalin works in part by reducing the concentration of glutamate within the insula, which is consistent with animal studies. These reductions in glutamate were also accompanied by decreases in insula connectivity and reductions in clinical pain ratings.

This type of brain activity imaging may help in the development of new pain medicines and personalized chronic pain treatment.

“The significance of this study is that it demonstrates that pharmacologic therapies for chronic pain can be studied with brain imaging,” said lead study author Richard Harris, PhD, assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Michigan. “The results could point to a future in which more targeted brain imaging approaches can be used during pharmacological treatment of chronic widespread pain, rather than the current trial-and-error approach.”

http://www.dddmag.com/news/2013/11/brain-imaging-reveals-how-pain-medicines-work