2. Academic Validation
  3. A Central Amygdala Input to the Parafascicular Nucleus Controls Comorbid Pain in Depression

A Central Amygdala Input to the Parafascicular Nucleus Controls Comorbid Pain in Depression

  • Cell Rep. 2019 Dec 17;29(12):3847-3858.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.003.
Xia Zhu 1,  Wenjie Zhou 1,  Yan Jin 1,  Haodi Tang 1,  Peng Cao 1,  Yu Mao 2,  Wen Xie 3,  Xulai Zhang 3,  Fei Zhao 4,  Min-Hua Luo 4,  Haitao Wang 1,  Jie Li 1,  Wenjuan Tao 2,  Zahra Farzinpour 1,  Likui Wang 5,  Xiangyao Li 6,  Juan Li 1,  Zheng-Quan Tang 7,  Chenghua Zhou 8,  Zhizhong Z Pan 9,  Zhi Zhang 10
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Biophysics and Neurobiology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, PR China.
  • 2 Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Biophysics and Neurobiology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, PR China; Department of Anesthesiology and Department of Pain Management, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, PR China.
  • 3 Department of Psychology, Anhui Mental Health Center, Hefei 230026, PR China.
  • 4 State Key Laboratory of Virology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, PR China.
  • 5 Department of Anesthesiology and Department of Pain Management, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, PR China.
  • 6 Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China, Key Laboratory of Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Department of Neurobiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
  • 7 Oregon Hearing Research Center and Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
  • 8 Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
  • 9 Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 10 Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Biophysics and Neurobiology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 31851918 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.003
Abstract

While comorbid pain in depression (CP) occurs at a high rate worldwide, the neural connections underlying the core symptoms of CP have yet to be elucidated. Here, we define a pathway whereby GABAergic neurons from the central nucleus of the amygdala (GABACeA) project to glutamatergic neurons in the parafascicular nucleus (GluPF). These GluPF neurons relay directly to neurons in the second somatosensory cortex (S2), a well-known area involved in pain signal processing. Enhanced inhibition of the GABACeA→GluPF→S2 pathway is found in mice exhibiting CP symptoms. Reversing this pathway using chemogenetic or optogenetic approaches alleviates CP symptoms. Together, the current study demonstrates the putative importance of the GABACeA→GluPF→S2 pathway in controlling at least some aspects of CP.

Keywords

GABA neurons; central nucleus of the amygdala; chemogenetics; comorbid pain; glutamate neurons; neural circuits; optogenetics; parafascicular nucleus; retrograde trans-monosynaptic tracing; second somatosensory cortex.

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