ArticleFrontiers in molecular neuroscience2022
VTA-NAc glutaminergic projection involves in the regulation of pain and pain-related anxiety.
Article in Frontiers in molecular neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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18 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Deep brain stimulation mechanisms in comorbid pain and emotional dysregulation from animal models.iScience · 2026Review
- Mesohabenular glutamatergic regulation of the consequences of uncontrollable stress.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The medial orbitofrontal cortex mediates neuropathic pain and anxiodepressive-like behaviors via two distinct pathways.The journal of headache and pain · 2026Article
- Dorsal root ganglion neuromodulation restores accumbal gate to inhibit mechanical allodynia.The journal of headache and pain · 2026Article
- Recent progress in chronic pain-related negative emotions and cognitive dysfunction: insights into the mechanisms underlying neural circuitry.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Review
- The neurons in NAc core receiving ACC excitatory afferents contribute to chronic postoperative pain.iScience · 2025Article
- Upregulation of NR2A in Glutamatergic VTA Neurons Contributes to Chronic Visceral Pain in Male Mice.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Article
- Dysregulation of Hedonic Processing in Chronic Pain: Insights from Preclinical Data.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- VTA-ACC dopaminergic circuit mediates trait anxiety-related observational learning of social avoidance in male mice.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- A nociceptive amygdala-striatal pathway modulating affective-motivational pain.Science advances · 2025Article
- Cross-species dissection of the modular role of the ventral tegmental area in depressive disorders.Neuroscience · 2025Review
- VTA is the Key to Pain Resilience in Empathic Behavior.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Article
- GPR17 modulates anxiety-like behaviorsActa pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2024Article
- Neuronal activity in the ventral tegmental area during goal-directed navigation recorded by low-curvature microelectrode arrays.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2024Article
- Chronic Pain-Related Cognitive Deficits: Preclinical Insights into Molecular, Cellular, and Circuit Mechanisms.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Review
- A mesocortical glutamatergic pathway modulates neuropathic pain independent of dopamine co-release.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Converging circuits between pain and depression: the ventral tegmental area as a therapeutic hub.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Review
- Brain nuclei and neural circuits in neuropathic pain and brain modulation mechanisms of acupuncture: a review on animal-based experimental research.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Besides the established role of dopamine neurons and projections in nociceptive stimuli, the involvement of ventral tegmental area (VTA) glutamatergic projections to nucleus accumbens (NAc) in pain remains unknown. In the present study, we aimed to examine the role of VTA glutamatergic projections to NAc in painful stimuli and its related behavioral changes. Methods: Unilateral chronic constrictive injury (CCI) of sciatic nerve or intraplantar hind paw injections (i.pl.) of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) were used to develop pathological pain models in wild-type and VGluT2-Cre mice. The involvement of VTA glutamatergic neurons with projections to NAc in CCI-induced pain model was noted by c-Fos labeling and firing rate recordings. Pain response and pain-related behavior changes to the artificial manipulation of the VTA glutamatergic projections to NAc were observed by Hargreaves tests, von Frey tests, open field tests, elevated maze tests, and sucrose preference tests. Results: Glutamatergic neurons in VTA had efferent inputs to shell area of the NAc. The CCI pain model significantly increased neuronal activity and firing rate in VTA glutamate neurons with projections to NAc. The photoinhibition of these glutamatergic projections relieved CCI-induced neuropathic pain and CFA-induced acute and chronic inflammatory pain. Moreover, pathological neuropathic pain-induced anxiety and less sucrose preference were also relieved by inhibiting the VTA glutamatergic projections to NAc. Conclusion: Together, glutamatergic inputs from VTA to NAc contribute to chronic neuropathic and inflammatory pain and pain-related anxiety and depressive behaviors, providing a mechanism for developing novel therapeutic methods.
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