Growing evidence indicates a link between changes in the medial prefrontal cortex and the pathophysiology of chronic pain. In particular, chronic pain is associated with altered medial prefrontal anatomy and biochemistry. Due to the comorbid affective disorders seen across all pain conditions, the medial prefrontal cortex is a region of significance as it is involved in emotional processing. We have recently reported that a decrease in medial prefrontal N-acetylaspartate and glutamate is associated with increased emotional dysregulation, indicating there are neurotransmitter imbalances in chronic pain. Therefore, we compared medial prefrontal neurochemistry in 24 people with chronic pain conditions to 24 age and sex-matched healthy controls with no history of chronic pain.

中文翻译：

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慢性疼痛患者内侧前额叶皮层正常兴奋和抑制功能的破坏

越来越多的证据表明内侧前额叶皮层的变化与慢性疼痛的病理生理学之间存在联系。特别是，慢性疼痛与内侧前额叶解剖结构和生物化学的改变有关。由于在所有疼痛状况中都存在共存的情感障碍，内侧前额叶皮层是一个重要的区域，因为它涉及情绪处理。我们最近报道，内侧前额叶N-乙酰天冬氨酸和谷氨酸的减少与情绪失调的增加有关，表明慢性疼痛中存在神经递质失衡。因此，我们将 24 名慢性疼痛患者的内侧前额叶神经化学与 24 名没有慢性疼痛病史的年龄和性别匹配的健康对照组进行了比较。