Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35858073›Full record

ReviewProceedings. Biological sciences2022

Descending control of nociception in insects?

Matilda Gibbons, Sajedeh Sarlak, Lars Chittka

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Organic Edible Insects-What Would It Take?Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Defending and refining the BirchAnimal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Sphingolipids in neurodegenerative diseases.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Matilda GibbonsSchool of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK.
Sajedeh SarlakDepartment of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, 31587-77871, Karaj, Iran.
Lars ChittkaSchool of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-8153-1732
Queen Mary University of London · GBUniversity of Tehran · IR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Modulation of nociception allows animals to optimize chances of survival by adapting their behaviour in different contexts. In mammals, this is executed by neurons from the brain and is referred to as the descending control of nociception. Whether insects have such control, or the neural circuits allowing it, has rarely been explored. Based on behavioural, neuroscientific and molecular evidence, we argue that insects probably have descending controls for nociception. Behavioural work shows that insects can modulate nocifensive behaviour. Such modulation is at least in part controlled by the central nervous system since the information mediating such prioritization is processed by the brain. Central nervous system control of nociception is further supported by neuroanatomical and neurobiological evidence showing that the insect brain can facilitate or suppress nocifensive behaviour, and by molecular studies revealing pathways involved in the inhibition of nocifensive behaviour both peripherally and centrally. Insects lack the endogenous opioid peptides and their receptors that contribute to mammalian descending nociception controls, so we discuss likely alternative molecular mechanisms for the insect descending nociception controls. We discuss what the existence of descending control of nociception in insects may reveal about pain perception in insects and finally consider the ethical implications of these novel findings.

Indexed as

NeuronsNociceptionAnimalsInsectaMammalsRatsRats, Sprague-Dawleyadaptationethicsinsectsmodulationnociceptionpain

Identifiers

PMID35858073
PMCPMC9257290
OpenAlexW4283835773

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.