Amygdala Plasticity and Pain

The amygdala is a limbic brain region that plays a key role in emotional processing, neuropsychiatric disorders, and the emotional-affective dimension of pain. Preclinical and clinical studies have identified amygdala hyperactivity as well as impairment of cortical control mechanisms in pain states....

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Main Authors: Jeremy M. Thompson, Volker Neugebauer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017-01-01
Series:Pain Research and Management
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8296501
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author Jeremy M. Thompson
Volker Neugebauer
author_facet Jeremy M. Thompson
Volker Neugebauer
author_sort Jeremy M. Thompson
collection DOAJ
description The amygdala is a limbic brain region that plays a key role in emotional processing, neuropsychiatric disorders, and the emotional-affective dimension of pain. Preclinical and clinical studies have identified amygdala hyperactivity as well as impairment of cortical control mechanisms in pain states. Hyperactivity of basolateral amygdala (BLA) neurons generates enhanced feedforward inhibition and deactivation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), resulting in pain-related cognitive deficits. The mPFC sends excitatory projections to GABAergic neurons in the intercalated cell mass (ITC) in the amygdala, which project to the laterocapsular division of the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeLC; output nucleus) and serve gating functions for amygdala output. Impairment of these cortical control mechanisms allows the development of amygdala pain plasticity. Mechanisms of abnormal amygdala activity in pain with particular focus on loss of cortical control mechanisms as well as new strategies to correct pain-related amygdala dysfunction will be discussed in the present review.
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spelling doaj-art-d6856fa0afa24cde9647d8f235ba6d0b2025-08-20T02:19:33ZengWileyPain Research and Management1203-67651918-15232017-01-01201710.1155/2017/82965018296501Amygdala Plasticity and PainJeremy M. Thompson0Volker Neugebauer1Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, Lubbock, TX, USADepartment of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, Lubbock, TX, USAThe amygdala is a limbic brain region that plays a key role in emotional processing, neuropsychiatric disorders, and the emotional-affective dimension of pain. Preclinical and clinical studies have identified amygdala hyperactivity as well as impairment of cortical control mechanisms in pain states. Hyperactivity of basolateral amygdala (BLA) neurons generates enhanced feedforward inhibition and deactivation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), resulting in pain-related cognitive deficits. The mPFC sends excitatory projections to GABAergic neurons in the intercalated cell mass (ITC) in the amygdala, which project to the laterocapsular division of the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeLC; output nucleus) and serve gating functions for amygdala output. Impairment of these cortical control mechanisms allows the development of amygdala pain plasticity. Mechanisms of abnormal amygdala activity in pain with particular focus on loss of cortical control mechanisms as well as new strategies to correct pain-related amygdala dysfunction will be discussed in the present review.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8296501
spellingShingle Jeremy M. Thompson
Volker Neugebauer
Amygdala Plasticity and Pain
Pain Research and Management
title Amygdala Plasticity and Pain
title_full Amygdala Plasticity and Pain
title_fullStr Amygdala Plasticity and Pain
title_full_unstemmed Amygdala Plasticity and Pain
title_short Amygdala Plasticity and Pain
title_sort amygdala plasticity and pain
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8296501
work_keys_str_mv AT jeremymthompson amygdalaplasticityandpain
AT volkerneugebauer amygdalaplasticityandpain