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BRAIN
A JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
1 Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Bla straket 7, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, S-413 45, Gothenburg, Sweden
2 Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, S-413 90, Gothenburg, Sweden
3 Oxford Centre for functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
We examined patients with a heritable disorder associated with a mutation affecting the nerve growth factor beta gene. Their
condition has been classified as hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type V. Carriers of the mutation show a reduction
in density of thin and unmyelinated nerve fibres, including C afferents. A distinct type of unmyelinated, low-threshold mech-
anoreceptive C fibre, the C-tactile afferent, is present in hairy but not glabrous skin of humans and other mammals. They have
been implicated in the coding of pleasant, hedonic touch of the kind that occurs in affiliative social interactions. We addressed
the relationship between C fibre function and pleasant touch perception in 10 individuals from a unique population of mutation
carriers in Sweden. We also investigated the effect of reduced C-fibre density on patients evaluation of observed interpersonal
touch (empathy). Results showed that patients perceived gentle, slow arm stroking, optimal for eliciting C-tactile afferent
responses (110 cm/s), as less pleasant than did matched controls and also differed in their rating patterns across stimulation
velocities. Further, patients blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses in posterior insular cortexa target for C afferentswere
not modulated by stimulation optimal for activating C-tactile afferents. Hence, perception of the hedonic aspect of dynamic
touch likely depends on C-tactile afferent density. Closely similar patterns between individuals ratings of felt and seen touch
suggest that appraisal of others touch is anchored in ones own perceptual experience, whether typical or atypical.
Keywords: tactile C afferent; HSAN-V; pleasant touch; nerve growth factor beta gene; empathy
Abbreviations: HSAN = hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy; NGFB = nerve growth factor beta
Received April 24, 2010. Revised December 7, 2010. Accepted December 8, 2010. Advance Access publication March 4, 2011
The Author (2011). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved.
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Tactile C afferents, pleasant touch and empathy Brain 2011: 134; 11161126 | 1117
inter-individual contact, affiliative behaviour and the formation has been further classified into five different types, depending
and maintenance of relationships (Morrison et al., 2010; on mode of inheritance, neuropathology and clinical symptoms
Olausson et al., 2010). Such affective aspects may form a func- (Dyck et al., 1983). Gene loci have been identified for most of
tional category of touch distinct from the more well-known dis- the HSAN subtypes. Our patients with HSAN-V are associated
criminative functions. with a mutation affecting a gene involved with nerve growth
Evidence that distinct neural pathways play a role in affect- factor beta (NGFB; Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man
related touch information comes from research both on the per- 608654) (Einarsdottir et al., 2004).
ipheral and central levels. On the peripheral level, a type of The mutation (R221W, an arginine to tryptophan change
unmyelinated C fibre, the tactile C afferent, has been shown to on amino acid 100 in the mature protein) is located on the
be very sensitive to innocuous tactile stimulation (Nordin, 1990; b-subunit of the NGF gene (NGFB) (Einarsdottir et al., 2004).
Vallbo et al., 1999; Wessberg et al., 2003). Tactile C afferents are It has been traced by pedigree to a common ancestor in the
slow-conducting, easily fatigued and often show after-discharge, 17th century (Minde et al., 2006). The mutation results not in
i.e. they may continue to fire for several seconds after stimulus a complete loss of NGF function but a reduced availability of
withdrawal (Vallbo et al., 1999). Although these properties render active protein, likely hampering development of sensory fibres
them suboptimal for sensory discrimination, they show many char- (Larsson et al., 2009). Carriers exhibit severe to moderate reduc-
acteristics consistent with a role in selectively encoding affective tion of unmyelinated C fibres and a moderate reduction of thinly
touch information. Most notably, they preferentially respond to myelinated A fibres in sural nerve and skin biopsies (Minde et al.,
stroking over the skin surface within a velocity range 2006, 2009; Axelsson et al., 2009). The patients have no reduc-
subjects forearm (the lower the response profile area value the
Materials and methods better the directional sensibility).
visual-analogue scale pleasantness rating patterns in Loken et al. (Olausson et al., 1997; Norrsell et al., 2001) (Supplementary
(2009). An extensive analysis that allowed for the repeated measures Fig. 1). C-fibre denervated patients (n = 10, Supplementary
at each velocity was then implemented using mixed random and fixed Table 1) and age-, sex- and education-matched healthy control
effects modelling (Littel et al., 2009). This model also allowed direct
subjects (n = 10) performed equally well on the test (Wilcoxon
statistical tests for differences between groups (patients, controls) and
signed ranks test, P = 0.47; patients median response profile
modalities (tactile, visual). The models were fitted using Restricted
Maximum Likelihood and an unstructured covariance matrix, similar
area = 18, range 1838; healthy controls median response profile
to multiple linear regression. The findings reported in the present area = 18, range 1825), and all results were well within the ear-
study were robust with regard to assumptions about covariance struc- lier established normal range (Olausson et al., 1997; Norrsell
ture and various types of mixed effect models were extensively et al., 2001).
explored without altering the significance levels of the reported find-
ings. We also fitted the same models using ranks of all visual-analogue
scale ratings instead of visual-analogue scale values, hence limiting
visual-analogue scale to an ordinal scale. The reported findings and
significance levels were the same for visual-analogue scale ranks as for
Evaluation of touch pleasantness
visual-analogue scale scores. For brush stroking on the forearm, the control groups
ratings were consistent with previously published results from
Cortical correlates of tactile C another group of healthy subjects (Loken et al., 2009). The
mean pleasantness ratings for each velocity for patients and
stimulation
Evaluation of touch pleasantness in for controls (P 5 0.001), but did not provide a significantly
better fit compared with a linear model for patients (P = 0.54).
others The lack of improved fit for a quadratic model in the patients
Just as for the tactile ratings, each individuals mean pleasantness indicated that they differed significantly from controls psycho-
rating of the video stimuli for each velocity for both patient and physical rating patterns across velocities when assessing touch in
control groups were compared using a two-way ANOVA with others.
factors group (patient, control) and velocity. Post hoc t-tests re- As for tactile visual-analogue scale ratings, we performed an
vealed that patients rated observed brush stroking as significantly extended mixed model regression analysis where all the ratings
less pleasant compared with controls [F(1, 94) = 23.2, P 5 0.001; were taken into account, allowing for direct tests between the
Fig. 2]. Patients ratings also had a higher coefficient of variance regression parameters in the two groups. The visual-analogue
compared with controls (P 5 0.001, independent samples t-test). scale intercept was significantly lower in patients compared with
To determine the effect of stroking velocity on the pattern of controls (P = 0.0022), and the quadratic regression term for vel-
pleasantness ratings between groups, regression analyses specific- ocity was non-significant for patients but significantly negative for
ally assessing the shape of rating curves were performed on the healthy controls (P = 0.0049 for the difference). There were no
patient and control groups separately. Like the tactile regression other statistical differences in visual-analogue scale ratings be-
analysis, a model with a quadratic term supplied the best fit tween patients and controls.
Tactile C afferents, pleasant touch and empathy Brain 2011: 134; 11161126 | 1121
Category 1 (high tactile receptivity/expressiveness), five in posterior insular response further, a region of interest mask cre-
Category 2, two in Category 3 and two in Category 4 (low tactile ated from the healthy groups activation cluster was applied to the
receptivity/expressiveness). Out of 10 controls, two fell in patient groups data. Mean parameter estimates (b-values) were
Category 1, three in Category 2, four in Category 3 and one in extracted for each voxel time course. The healthy group showed a
Category 4. These results suggest that the patients did not differ significant difference between 3 and 30 cm/s stimulation
from controls in self-report of how they perceive and use touch in (P = 0.01), probably reflecting functionally specific tactile
social relations. C-afferent input to posterior insula. In contrast, for the patient
group there was no difference between 3 and 30 cm/s
(P = 0.53; Fig. 4) in this region. These results are consistent with
Blood-oxygen-level-dependent reduced tactile C input to cortex.
responses in posterior insular cortex
As predicted, the posterior insular cortex in the healthy partici-
pants showed the greatest blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal
Discussion
increase for 3 cm/s stroking on the forearm (x, y, z = 31, 20, In this study, we investigated the underpinnings of pleasant touch
11; Fig. 4). However, this tactile C-optimal stimulation failed to in the peripheral nervous system, and their effects on the evalu-
capture insular activation in the patients (Fig. 4). To explore the ation of observed touch, by examining a unique group of patients
Tactile C afferents, pleasant touch and empathy Brain 2011: 134; 11161126 | 1123
with severe denervation of unmyelinated skin afferents. These pa- different velocities for C-fibre denervated patients deviated from
tients with HSAN-V show reduced density of A and C fibres in that of controls. The rating pattern in healthy subjects follows an
peripheral nerve and skin biopsies, but no additional neurological inverted U-shaped curve, which is highly correlated with tactile
or cognitive abnormalities (Einarsdottir et al., 2004; Minde et al., C-afferent discharge across velocities (Loken et al., 2009). A quad-
2004, 2006, 2009). In contrast to their thin fibre denervation they ratic term was used in a regression model to capture this pattern
have no signs of large fibre neuropathy in neurography and they (see also Loken et al., 2009). The control group had a significantly
had intact discriminative touch as measured with the directional better fit with this quadratic term than the patients, indicating that
sensibility test sensitive in detecting myelinated Ab afferent dys- the patient groups perceptual evaluation of the stimuli deviates
function (Norrsell et al., 2001; Loken et al., 2011). from the typical pattern associated with tactile C firing. The pa-
Mammalian species have A fibres that respond to fine hair tient groups rating curve across velocities was also significantly
movements (down hair units) (Burgess et al., 1968; Perl, 1968). flatter compared with the control groups. The C-denervated pa-
However, tactile C afferents are the only thinly myelinated or tients atypical perception suggests a central role for tactile C af-
unmyelinated receptor type that responds to light touch in the ferents in the normal perception of gentle, dynamic touch stimuli.
human forearm skin, the area tested here (Vallbo et al., 1995, In contrast to healthy participants, the tactile C-optimal stroking
1999; Wessberg et al., 2003). Change in brush perception in speed of 3 cm/s failed to activate the posterior insula in patients
the C-fibre denervated patients is therefore highly likely to be a and there was no significant blood-oxygen-level-dependent differ-
consequence of a reduction of tactile C afferents. Thus, the find- ence between 3 (tactile C-optimal) and 30 cm/s (tactile C-non-
ings in the patients with HSAN-V can address two major questions optimal) stroking speeds in patients posterior insula (Fig. 4).
associated with the mutation. In rat cell lines, this mutation is have normal social skills and cognitive functions (de Andrade
associated with a decrease in availability of mature nerve growth et al., 2008), they may nevertheless have learned what is gener-
factor protein (Larsson et al., 2009). Such disruption may affect ally considered a pleasant stroking speed during their interactions
downstream cortical pathways, resulting in altered hedonic evalu- with others. Self-related and other related evaluations may follow
ation of the stimulus. One possibility is that nerve growth factor different, relatively independent norms, depending on experience
levels affect the expression of proteins in peripheral sensory axons; and context. An alternative possibility is that the evaluation of
this is supported by evidence of localized hypersensitivity to mech- how pleasant a touch might be to another person is shaped by
anical stimulation following nerve growth factor injection in direct perceptual experience and draws on the same norms.
humans (Rukwied et al., 2010). The possibility that congenitally To address these alternatives, subjects viewed video clips of
reduced nerve growth factor would result in hyposensitivity to others arms being stroked and were asked to rate how pleasant
mechanical stimuli is thus reasonable. they thought the touch might feel to the person being stroked in
Here, soft brush stroking was delivered manually, whereas in a the video. The control groups ratings followed the typical
previous study we used a robotic tactile stimulator to deliver tactile inverted-U curve, with a quadratic term providing a significant
stimuli with precise control over velocity and force (Loken et al., fit in the regression model. However, like their ratings for directly
2009). Nevertheless, the control subjects visual-analogue scale experienced touch, the patients ratings of the videos did not
ratings across velocities in the present study were similar to the follow this pattern; the quadratic term was not significant.
visual-analogue scale ratings obtained in the previous study When the effect of modality (felt or seen) was investigated
(n = 20) and thus probably representative of healthy subjects in across control and patient groups, analysis revealed a main
the main factor driving the differences between patients and de Andrade, Baudic S, Attal N, Rodrigues CL, Caramelli P, Lino AM, et al.
controls. Beyond neuropathy in hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy
type V: cognitive evaluation. Eur J Neurol 2008; 15: 7129.
Deethardt JF, Hines DG. Tactile communication and personality differ-
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