ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2020
Loss of nucleus accumbens low-frequency fluctuations is a signature of chronic pain.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 55 papers.
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 92 citations in OpenAlex.
- Increased iron deposition in nucleus accumbens associated with disease progression and chronicity in migraine.BMC medicine · 2023Trial
- A predictive corticospinal model for pain perception.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Differential brain response to a highly palatable drink in chronic low back pain patients.Journal of neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Network-based disease fingerprinting with neuroinflammation PET imaging.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Distinct Grey Matter Alterations in Untreated Mild to Moderate Chronic Low Back Pain: A Longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Observational
- Effects of electroacupuncture at Zusanli on pain-perception-related brain nuclei in KOA mice: a study on cortical and subcortical c-fos expression.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2026Article
- Dorsal root ganglion neuromodulation restores accumbal gate to inhibit mechanical allodynia.The journal of headache and pain · 2026Article
- Convergent structural brain alterations in chronic pain: a multi-metric individual participant data meta-analysis.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Down-regulation of gastrin-releasing peptide in medial orbitofrontal cortex to nucleus accumbens projections contributes to allodynia and negative affect.Science advances · 2025Article
- Article
- Network-based disease fingerprinting with neuroinflammation PET imaging.Research square · 2025Article
- Article
- Distinct nucleus accumbens neural pathways underlie separate behavioral features of chronic pain and comorbid depression.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Article
- A nociceptive amygdala-striatal pathway modulating affective-motivational pain.Science advances · 2025Article
- The causal role of brain circuits in osteoarthritis pain.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2025Review
- Article
- A Neural Circuit From Paraventricular Nucleus of the Thalamus to the Nucleus Accumbens Mediates Inflammatory Pain in Mice.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- Reduced Cortical Surface Area in the Frontal Operculum as a Causal Risk Predictor for Chronic Pain.Pain research & management · 2025Article
- Loss of effort in chronic low-back pain patients: Motivational anhedonia in chronic pain.PloS one · 2025Article
- Investigating Brain Structure and Functional Alterations in the Transition from Acute to Chronic Neck Pain: A Resting-State fMRI Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Chronic pain is a highly prevalent disease with poorly understood pathophysiology. In particular, the brain mechanisms mediating the transition from acute to chronic pain remain largely unknown. Here, we identify a subcortical signature of back pain. Specifically, subacute back pain patients who are at risk for developing chronic pain exhibit a smaller nucleus accumbens volume, which persists in the chronic phase, compared to healthy controls. The smaller accumbens volume was also observed in a separate cohort of chronic low-back pain patients and was associated with dynamic changes in functional connectivity. At baseline, subacute back pain patients showed altered local nucleus accumbens connectivity between putative shell and core, irrespective of the risk of transition to chronic pain. At follow-up, connectivity changes were observed between nucleus accumbens and rostral anterior cingulate cortex in the patients with persistent pain. Analysis of the power spectral density of nucleus accumbens resting-state activity in the subacute and chronic back pain patients revealed loss of power in the slow-5 frequency band (0.01 to 0.027 Hz) which developed only in the chronic phase of pain. This loss of power was reproducible across two cohorts of chronic low-back pain patients obtained from different sites and accurately classified chronic low-back pain patients in two additional independent datasets. Our results provide evidence that lower nucleus accumbens volume confers risk for developing chronic pain and altered nucleus accumbens activity is a signature of the state of chronic pain.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.