7-Tesla Brain Imaging Shed Light on How Crohn’s Disease Affects Pain Processing

Marja-Lisa Berthold, Hanna Hartmann, Ezequiel Farrher, Markus Zimmermann, Julius Jaeger, N. Jon Shah, Kai Markus Schneider, Irene Neuner, Ravichandran Rajkumar

20th November 2025

A new 7-Tesla brain imaging study conducted in INM-4 at the Forschungszentrum Jülich offers fresh insight into how Crohn’s disease may shape the brain’s chemical landscape—particularly in regions tied to pain. Although Crohn’s is best known as a gastrointestinal disorder, researchers are increasingly focusing on the gut–brain axis, the two-way communication system through which gut inflammation can influence emotional and sensory processing in the brain.

In this study, scientists used ultra-high-field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to examine the left insular cortex—a key hub for sensing internal bodily states and interpreting pain—in 14 Crohn’s patients and a matched group of healthy individuals. Surprisingly, the overall levels of major neurometabolites in the insula did not differ between the two groups.

However, within the Crohn’s group, clear patterns emerged. Patients with more severe gastrointestinal symptoms had lower levels of aspartate and NAAG, metabolites linked to neuronal signalling and neuroprotection. Meanwhile, those who scored higher on the “magnification” component of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale—indicating a tendency to focus intensely on pain—showed higher concentrations of glutamine and Glx, metabolites associated with excitatory neurotransmission.

Together, these neurometabolic signatures point toward heightened insular activity in Crohn’s patients, potentially amplifying interoceptive signals and contributing to increased pain sensitivity and worry about pain. While preliminary, the findings bolster the idea that Crohn’s disease is not only an inflammatory gut condition but also a disorder that engages and alters key brain circuits involved in pain perception.

Original Publication

Neurometabolic signatures of gastrointestinal symptoms in the insula of Crohn’s disease patients: explorative findings from a 7T MRS study