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Originally published in Science Express on 7 February 2002
Science 1 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5560, pp. 1737 - 1740
DOI: 10.1126/science.1067176
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Reports

Placebo and Opioid Analgesia-- Imaging a Shared Neuronal Network

Predrag Petrovic,1 Eija Kalso,2 Karl Magnus Petersson,1 Martin Ingvar1*

It has been suggested that placebo analgesia involves both higher order cognitive networks and endogenous opioid systems. The rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and the brainstem are implicated in opioid analgesia, suggesting a similar role for these structures in placebo analgesia. Using positron emission tomography, we confirmed that both opioid and placebo analgesia are associated with increased activity in the rACC. We also observed a covariation between the activity in the rACC and the brainstem during both opioid and placebo analgesia, but not during the pain-only condition. These findings indicate a related neural mechanism in placebo and opioid analgesia.

1 Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm 171 76, Sweden.
2 Pain Clinic, Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Helsinki University Hospital, Finland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: martin{at}ingvar.com

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