Preliminary report: parasympathetic tone links to functional brain networks during the anticipation and experience of visceral pain

The mechanisms that underpin the anti-nociceptive effect of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) on visceral pain remain incompletely understood. We sought to describe the effect of resting parasympathetic tone on functional brain networks during the anticipation and experience of oesophageal pain. 21 healthy participants had their resting cardiac vagal tone (CVT), a validated measure of the PNS, quantified, and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during the anticipation and experience of painful oesophageal distention. The relationship between resting CVT and functional brain networks was examined using 11 hypothesis-driven nodes and network-based statistics. A network comprising all nodes was apparent in individuals with high resting CVT, compared to those with low CVT, during oesophageal pain (family wise error rate (FWER)-corrected p < 0.048). Functional connections included the thalamus-amygdala, thalamus-hypothalamus, hypothalamus-nucleus accumbens, amygdala-pallidum, pallidum-nucleus accumbens and insula-pallidum. A smaller network was seen during pain anticipation, comprising the amygdala, pallidum and anterior insula (FWER-corrected p < 0.049). These findings suggest that PNS tone is associated with functional brain networks during the anticipation and experience of visceral pain. Given the role of these subcortical regions in the descending inhibitory modulation of pain, these networks may represent a potential neurobiological explanation for the anti-nociceptive effect of the PNS.