ArticleBrain : a journal of neurology2022
Medullary kappa-opioid receptor neurons inhibit pain and itch through a descending circuit.
Article in Brain : a journal of neurology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- The efficacy and safety of difelikefalin for pruritus in hemodialysis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Renal failure · 2024Pooled it
- RGS6 regulates Kappa opioid receptor-mediated antinociceptive behaviors.Neuropharmacology · 2026Article
- Kappa opioid receptors in excitatory spinal neurons gate acute pain: evidence from mouse and human.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Supraspinal Circuit Mechanisms Underlying Itch Processing.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Review
- Descending inhibitory rostral ventromedial medulla neurons cause widespread antinociception and contribute to the pain-inhibits-pain phenomenon.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Lateral hypothalamus directs stress-induced modulation of acute and psoriatic itch.Cell reports · 2026Article
- A unified framework combining linear and 3D molecular features for robust drug-protein interaction prediction.Cell reports methods · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of the trigeminal-lateral parabrachial-rostroventral medullary circuits involved in experimental occlusal interference induced chronic orofacial pain.The journal of headache and pain · 2026Article
- Spinal and supraspinal mechanisms of chronic itch: from neuronal circuits to the neuro-immune-microbial axis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Cortical Control of Itch Sensation by Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide-Expressing Interneurons in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Article
- Central neural circuits underlying itch sensation.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025Review
- κ-Opioid Receptor Agonists as Robust Pain-Modulating Agents: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential in Pain Modulation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Microglia in the Rostral Ventromedial Medulla Mediate Synaptic Pruning via the C1q/C3-CR3 Signaling Pathway-A Mechanism for the Chronic Orofacial Pain.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Identification of VGLUT3-expressing LTMRs-recruited spinal circuits for itch inhibition.Molecular brain · 2025Article
- Descending projection neurons in the primary sensorimotor cortex regulate neuropathic pain and locomotion in mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Supraspinal kappa-opioid receptors: new therapeutic strategies for pain, pruritus, and negative emotions.Experimental brain research · 2025Article
- An intra-brainstem circuitry for pain-induced inhibition of itch.Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Article
- A Comprehensive Analysis of Fibromyalgia and the Role of the Endogenous Opioid System.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Limitations and potential of κOR biased agonists for pain and itch management.Neuropharmacology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In perilous and stressful situations, the ability to suppress pain can be critical for survival. The rostral ventromedial medulla contains neurons that robustly inhibit nocioception at the level of the spinal cord through a top-down modulatory pathway. Although much is known about the role of the rostral ventromedial medulla in the inhibition of pain, the precise ability to directly manipulate pain-inhibitory neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla has never been achieved. We now expose a cellular circuit that inhibits nocioception and itch in mice. Through a combination of molecular, tracing and behavioural approaches, we found that rostral ventromedial medulla neurons containing the kappa-opioid receptor inhibit itch and nocioception. With chemogenetic inhibition, we uncovered that these neurons are required for stress-induced analgesia. Using intersectional chemogenetic and pharmacological approaches, we determined that rostral ventromedial medulla kappa-opioid receptor neurons inhibit nocioception and itch through a descending circuit. Lastly, we identified a dynorphinergic pathway arising from the periaqueductal grey that modulates nociception within the rostral ventromedial medulla. These discoveries highlight a distinct population of rostral ventromedial medulla neurons capable of broadly and robustly inhibiting itch and nocioception.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.