Pain-related neuronal ensembles in the primary somatosensory cortex contribute to hyperalgesia and anxiety

Tatsuya Ishikawa; Koshi Murata; Hiroaki Okuda; Ilia Potapenko; Kiyomi Hori; Takafumi Furuyama; Ryo Yamamoto; Munenori Ono; Nobuo Kato; Yugo Fukazawa; Noriyuki Ozaki

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106332

Pain-related neuronal ensembles in the primary somatosensory cortex contribute to hyperalgesia and anxiety

iScience. 2023 Mar 4;26(4):106332. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106332. eCollection 2023 Apr 21.

Authors

Tatsuya Ishikawa¹, Koshi Murata^{2

3}, Hiroaki Okuda¹, Ilia Potapenko¹, Kiyomi Hori¹, Takafumi Furuyama⁴, Ryo Yamamoto⁴, Munenori Ono⁴, Nobuo Kato⁴, Yugo Fukazawa^{2

3}, Noriyuki Ozaki¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Functional Anatomy, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Takara-machi, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
² Department of Brain Structure and Function, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Yoshida-gun, Fukui 910-1193, Japan.
³ Life Science Innovation Center, Faculty of Medical Science, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-1193, Japan.
⁴ Department of Physiology, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan.

Abstract

The mechanism by which acute pain or itch information at the periphery is processed in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) remains unclear. To elucidate this, we used a viral-mediated targeted-recombination-in-active population system to target S1 neuronal ensembles that are active during pain or itch sensations. We induced the expression of excitatory or inhibitory designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs in pain- or itch-related S1 neurons. We identified neuronal populations in mice that regulate the sensory components of pain and itch in the S1 hind paw region. Notably, the neuronal circuit between pain-related S1 neurons and the parafascicular nucleus contributed to hyperalgesia and anxiety-like behavior. We propose that S1 plays an essential role in sensory and affective responses to noxious stimuli, such as pain.

Keywords: Behavioral neuroscience; Cell biology; Molecular neuroscience.