An amygdala-to-cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic pain
Summary: Chronic pain is a complex experience with multifaceted behavioral manifestations, often leading to pain avoidance at the expense of reward approach. How pain facilitates avoidance in situations with mixed outcomes is unknown. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a key role in pain proc...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Cell Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124723011373 |
| _version_ | 1827810082978529280 |
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| author | Kristina Valentinova Mario A. Acuña Niels R. Ntamati Natalie E. Nevian Thomas Nevian |
| author_facet | Kristina Valentinova Mario A. Acuña Niels R. Ntamati Natalie E. Nevian Thomas Nevian |
| author_sort | Kristina Valentinova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Chronic pain is a complex experience with multifaceted behavioral manifestations, often leading to pain avoidance at the expense of reward approach. How pain facilitates avoidance in situations with mixed outcomes is unknown. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a key role in pain processing and in value-based decision-making. Distinct ACC inputs inform about the sensory and emotional quality of pain. However, whether specific ACC circuits underlie pathological conflict assessment in pain remains underexplored. Here, we demonstrate that mice with chronic pain favor cold avoidance rather than reward approach in a conflicting task. This occurs along with selective strengthening of basolateral amygdala inputs onto ACC layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons. The amygdala-cingulate projection is necessary and sufficient for the conflicting cold avoidance. Further, low-frequency stimulation of this pathway restores AMPA receptor function and reduces avoidance in pain mice. Our findings provide insights into the circuits and mechanisms underlying cognitive aspects of pain and offer potential targets for treatment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T22:48:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6a68d67ab7b744aaa36a6bc56e40a5b0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2211-1247 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T22:48:43Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cell Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-6a68d67ab7b744aaa36a6bc56e40a5b02023-09-22T04:38:33ZengElsevierCell Reports2211-12472023-10-014210113125An amygdala-to-cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic painKristina Valentinova0Mario A. Acuña1Niels R. Ntamati2Natalie E. Nevian3Thomas Nevian4Department of Physiology, University of Bern, Bühlplatz 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; Corresponding authorDepartment of Physiology, University of Bern, Bühlplatz 5, 3012 Bern, SwitzerlandDepartment of Physiology, University of Bern, Bühlplatz 5, 3012 Bern, SwitzerlandDepartment of Physiology, University of Bern, Bühlplatz 5, 3012 Bern, SwitzerlandDepartment of Physiology, University of Bern, Bühlplatz 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; Corresponding authorSummary: Chronic pain is a complex experience with multifaceted behavioral manifestations, often leading to pain avoidance at the expense of reward approach. How pain facilitates avoidance in situations with mixed outcomes is unknown. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a key role in pain processing and in value-based decision-making. Distinct ACC inputs inform about the sensory and emotional quality of pain. However, whether specific ACC circuits underlie pathological conflict assessment in pain remains underexplored. Here, we demonstrate that mice with chronic pain favor cold avoidance rather than reward approach in a conflicting task. This occurs along with selective strengthening of basolateral amygdala inputs onto ACC layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons. The amygdala-cingulate projection is necessary and sufficient for the conflicting cold avoidance. Further, low-frequency stimulation of this pathway restores AMPA receptor function and reduces avoidance in pain mice. Our findings provide insights into the circuits and mechanisms underlying cognitive aspects of pain and offer potential targets for treatment.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124723011373CP: Neuroscience |
| spellingShingle | Kristina Valentinova Mario A. Acuña Niels R. Ntamati Natalie E. Nevian Thomas Nevian An amygdala-to-cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic pain Cell Reports CP: Neuroscience |
| title | An amygdala-to-cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic pain |
| title_full | An amygdala-to-cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic pain |
| title_fullStr | An amygdala-to-cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic pain |
| title_full_unstemmed | An amygdala-to-cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic pain |
| title_short | An amygdala-to-cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic pain |
| title_sort | amygdala to cingulate cortex circuit for conflicting choices in chronic pain |
| topic | CP: Neuroscience |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124723011373 |
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