Cortico-spinal coupling along descending pain system differentiates between opioid and saline treatment in healthy participants

Opioids are potent analgesic drugs with widespread cortical, subcortical and spinal targets. In particular, the central pain system comprising ascending and descending pain pathways has high opioid receptor densities and is thus crucial for opioid analgesia. Here, we investigated effects of the opioid remifentanil in a large sample (n=78) of healthy male participants using combined cortico-spinal fMRI. This approach offers the possibility to measure BOLD responses simultaneously in the brain and spinal cord allowing us to investigate the role of cortico-spinal coupling in opioid analgesia. Our data show that opioids altered activity in regions involved in pain processing such as somatosensory regions including the spinal cord and pain modulation such as prefrontal regions. Moreover, coupling strength along the descending pain system, i.e. between the medial prefrontal cortex, periaqueductal gray and spinal cord was stronger in participants who reported stronger analgesia during opioid t..., , mat files: Subject, Group (1 = NaCl, 2 = Remi50, 3 = Remi100), Rating/NPS score
nii files: Second-level contrast images for respective figures, The dataset only contains non-identifiable data as all contrast images represent group statistics in MRI template space that do not represent data of individual participants. Individual pain ratings and NPS scores were anonymized by assigning participants a random number.
All participants consented to sharing their data in an anonymized format., # Cortico-spinal coupling along descending pain system differentiates between opioid and saline treatment in healthy participants

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.bvq83bk9k](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bvq83bk9k)

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset includes supplementary information for all figures provided in the publication. The study compared BOLD responses in the brain and spinal cord between participants that either received saline or the opioid agonist remifentanil (N = 78). Individual pain ratings, NPS scores and fMRI contrast images are provided to support all reported results in the publication. 

### Files and variables

#### File: Figure1_sourcedata1_painratings-baseline.mat

**Description:** Baseline pain ratings (0-100) for all participants

##### Variables

* subID, group, pain rating

#### File: Figure1_sourcedata2_painratings-treatment.mat

**Description:** Treatment pain ratings (0-100) for all participants

##### Variables

* subID, group, pain ra...,