Language contexts modulate instant empathic responses to others' pain.

Empathy for others' pain plays a critical role in human social interactions, but the influence of language contexts remains unclear. We examined the foreign-language effect on the behavioral and the underlying neural processes of empathy for others' pain. Chinese-English bilinguals performed a pain empathy task separately in Chinese (native language) and English (foreign language) contexts while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Results showed that bilingual participants reported greater ratings of perceived pain intensity in response to the observation of others' pain in the English as compared to the Chinese context. When comparing the brain responses to painful stimuli with those to non-painful stimuli, a significant empathic response in the early ERP component (N1) was found only in the English, but not in the Chinese context. Empathic response in the P3 component was larger when bilingual participants performed the task in English as compared to Chinese. However, empathic response in the late positive potential (LPP) was comparable between these two language contexts. Furthermore, spontaneous fronto-central α-oscillation power recorded prior to the onset of empathic stimuli was significantly lower in the foreign language as compared to the native-language context. These findings demonstrated a foreign-language effect on both the automatic affective sharing and the top-down cognitive evaluation processes of empathy for others' pain. This effect is most likely to be the result of altered brain states, involving increased vigilance and arousal level when bilingual individuals function in a foreign-language context.

Shared Sensitivity to Physical Pain and Social Evaluation.

Many studies have demonstrated a link between experiences of physical pain and those of social rejection, both of which can trigger cognitive processes involved in detecting, orienting toward, or reacting to potentially threatening events. This study tested the hypothesis that healthy individuals who are more sensitive to physical pain are also more sensitive to social rejection. We recruited participants with high or low pain-sensitivity (HPS and LPS), as assessed by scores on a pain-sensitivity questionnaire and confirmed by experimental pain-sensitivity assessment. A modified social-judgment task was adopted in which participants first provided expectations about being liked/disliked by "peers", and then received "peers" feedback indicating acceptance or rejection. While both groups rated rejection as more unpleasant than acceptance, this difference was greater in the HPS group. Electroencephalographic results showed that only participants in the HPS group exhibited greater early delta/theta-oscillations (δ/θ-oscillations) in response to rejection than to acceptance, regardless of whether the feedback was expected or unexpected. However, both groups consistently exhibited greater late δ/θ-oscillations in response to rejection when the feedback was unexpected. These results suggest that participants in the HPS group were more sensitive to social cues signaling acceptance or rejection at early stages of information processing. Furthermore, neither early nor late δ/θ-oscillations following nonsocial feedback (correct or incorrect time-estimation) differed between groups. Altogether, these results supported the idea of shared sensitivity in detecting potentially physical and social threats in the environment. PERSPECTIVES: This study showed the greater emotional reactions and early-latency δ/θ-oscillations in response to social evaluation among healthy individuals with high pain sensitivity. It supports the idea of shared sensitivity to physical pain and social evaluation, which could be governed by a common system for detecting and monitoring potentially environmental threats.

Hyperexcitability of Cortical Oscillations in Patients with Somatoform Pain Disorder: A Resting-State EEG Study.

Patients with somatoform pain disorder (SPD) suffer from somatic pain that cannot be fully explained by specific somatic pathology. While the pain experience requires the integration of sensory and contextual processes, the cortical oscillations have been suggested to play a crucial role in pain processing and integration. The present study is aimed at identifying the abnormalities of spontaneous cortical oscillations among patients with SPD, thus for a better understanding of the ongoing brain states in these patients. Spontaneous electroencephalography data during a resting state with eyes open were recorded from SPD patients and healthy controls, and their cortical oscillations as well as functional connectivity were compared using both electrode-level and source-level analysis. Compared with healthy controls, SPD patients exhibited greater resting-state alpha oscillations (8.5-12.5 Hz) at the parietal region, as reflected by both electrode-level spectral power density and exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA) cortical current density. A significant correlation between parietal alpha oscillation and somatization severity was observed in SPD patients, after accounting for the influence of anxiety and depression. Functional connectivity analysis further revealed a greater frontoparietal connectivity of the resting-state alpha oscillations in SPD patients, which was indexed by the coherence between pairs of electrodes and the linear connectivity between pairs of eLORETA cortical sources. The enhanced resting-state alpha oscillation in SPD patients could be relevant with attenuated sensory information gating and excessive integration of pain-related information, while the enhanced frontoparietal connectivity could be reflecting their sustained attention to bodily sensations and hypervigilance to somatic sensations.

Hearing other's pain is associated with sensitivity to physical pain: An ERP study.

Numerous studies have demonstrated an overlap between the processing of self-pain and others' pain, which suggests that psychological and neural representations are shared between the perception of physical pain and empathy for pain. As hearing emotional exclamations is a common way in which we regularly perceive and empathize with others' pain, the present study aimed to investigate the link between sensitivity to physical pain and the sounds made by others in pain. We recorded event-related potential (ERP) responses to another person's vocalizations (neutral or painful intonation) and identified electrophysiological responses associated with the processing of painful sounds. Additionally, individual pain sensitivity was characterized by a stimulus-response function that described the relationship between objective stimulus intensity and subjective pain intensity. Results showed that compared with hearing others' neutral sounds, hearing others' sounds of pain elicited more positive frontal-central N1 and N2 responses as well as more positive central-parietal P3 and late positive potential responses. These electrophysiological responses to hearing others' pain replicated electrophysiological responses to observing pictures and video clips of people in pain. Importantly, the neural responses to hearing others in pain were associated with physical pain sensitivity that was indexed by stimulus-response characteristics. The identified link between perception of one's own physical pain and the sounds of others in pain further supports the shared common psychological computations between processing one's own pain and empathizing with others' pain.

[Effect of icariin on intermediate and advanced activation of murine T lymphocytes in vitro].

AIM: To study the effect of icariin (ICA) on the intermediate and advanced activation of murine T lymphocytes stimulated by concanvalin A (ConA) in vitro. METHODS: Single cell suspensions were prepared from murine lymphoid nodes under germ free condition. The drug toxicity of ICA on T lymphocytes was measured by MTT after 24 h. Before they were stimulated by ConA (the final concentration was 5 mg/L), T cells were treated with different concentrations of icariin for 4 h. The expression of CD25 and CD71, the marker of intermediate and advanced activation of T lymphocytes, were measured by flow cytometry (FCM) combined with two-colour immunofluorescent staining of cell surface antigen after 24 h and 30 h. The change of cytokine contents such as IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma in the supernatant of intermediate activation was measured by Luminex 100. RESULTS: ICA at the final concentration of 0.3, 1.5, 3.0 micromol/L inhibited the expression of CD25 with dose-dependent effect but it had no effect on that of CD71. ICA decreased the secretion of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 but increased that of TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma. CONCLUSION: ICA can not only decrease CD25, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 but also enhance the cell-mediated immunity reaction. So it may have a function of two-way regulation of immune balance.

[Effects of Forskolin on proliferation cell-cycle distribution and activation of the murine T lymphocytes in vitro].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Forskolin on activation, proliferation, and cell-cycle distribution of murine CD3+ T lymphocytes, and study the mechanisms of its immunosuppressive effect. METHODS: Singel cell suspensions were prepared from murine lymph nodes. Fluorescence conjugated monoclonal antibodies and flow cytometry were used to detect the expression of CD69 activated by Con A, the proliferation index of activated mouse T lymphocytes was analyzed by CFDA-SE staining, the distribution of the cell cycle was analyzed by PI staining. RESULTS: Forskolin (10(-7), 10(-6), 10(-5) M) could inhibit both the expression of CD69 on CD3+ T lymphocytes and T lymphocyte proliferation index stimulated by Con A in a dose-dependent manner. The C0/G1 of T lymphocytes increased but the S, G2/M phase decreased. CONCLUSION: Forskolin can inhibit the activation and proliferation of murine T lymphocytes in vitro, and arrest activated T lymphocytes from G0/G1 to S or G2/M. Forskolin is a potential immunosupressive agent.

[Effect of shuanghuanglian injection on the activation and proliferation of T lymphocytes in mice in vitro].

AIM: To study the effect of shuanghuanglian injection on the activation and proliferation of T lymphocytes in mice in vitro. METHODS: The toxic effect of SHL on lymphocytes in mice was estimated by MTT test; Double-fluorescent plus flow cytometry to analyze the effect of SHL on the activation of T lymphocytes in mice stimulated by ConA in vitro; MTT test and CFDA-SE plus flow cytometry were used to detect the effect of SHL on the proliferation of T lymphocytes in mice induced by ConA in vitro. RESULTS: SHL had little side effect on lymphocytes in mice in vitro; At the mass concentration of 60, 80, 100, 120 mg/L, SHL inhibited the activation of T lymphocytes in mice stimulated by ConA in vitro (P<0.01); Both MTT test and CFDA-SE stain sign that SHL inhibited the activation of T lymphocytes in mice induced by ConA in vitro at the mass concentration of 60, 80, 100, 120 mg/L (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: SHL can inhibit the activation and proliferation of T lymphocytes in mice in vitro.