Janus effect of the anterior cingulate cortex: Pain and emotion

Sarah H Journée; Victor P Mathis; Clémentine Fillinger; Pierre Veinante; Ipek Yalcin

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105362

Janus effect of the anterior cingulate cortex: Pain and emotion

Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2023 Oct:153:105362. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105362. Epub 2023 Aug 16.

Authors

Sarah H Journée¹, Victor P Mathis¹, Clémentine Fillinger¹, Pierre Veinante¹, Ipek Yalcin²

Affiliations

¹ Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Strasbourg, Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Strasbourg, France.
² Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Strasbourg, Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Strasbourg, France; Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada. Electronic address: yalcin@inci-cnrs.unistra.fr.

PMID: 37595650
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105362

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, clinical and preclinical studies point to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as a site of interest for several neurological and psychiatric conditions. The ACC plays a critical role in emotion, autonomic regulation, pain processing, attention, memory and decision making. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated the involvement of the ACC in the emotional component of pain and its comorbidity with emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. Thanks to the development of animal models combined with state-of-the-art technologies, we now have a better mechanistic understanding of the functions of the ACC. Hence, the primary aim of this review is to compile the most recent preclinical studies on the role of ACC in the emotional component and consequences of chronic pain. Herein, we thus thoroughly describe the pain-induced electrophysiological, molecular and anatomical alterations in the ACC and in its related circuits. Finally, we discuss the next steps that are needed to strengthen our understanding of the involvement of the ACC in emotional and pain processing.

Keywords: ACC; Anterior cingulate cortex; Anxiety; Area 24a; Area 24b; Area 32; Aversion; Chronic pain; Circuits; Depression; Pain; Rodent models.

Publication types

Review