How paraventricular thalamus mediates visceral pain and anxiety-like behaviors
Visceral pain and emotional disorders are linked to early life stressors but their pathological mechanism is not well understood.
The researchers identify the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) as a sorting center that distinctly processes visceral pain and anxiety.
The aPVT and pPVT distinctly modulate visceral pain and anxiety via different molecular targets and projection patterns, thus providing evidence for clinically targeted treatment of visceral pain and anxiety.
The authors show that the aPVT-basolateral amygdala (BLA) and pPVT-central amygdala (CeA) circuits regulated chronic visceral pain and anxiety, respectively.
They also demonstrate that increased Cacna1e expression in aPVT enhanced both visceral pain and anxiety, while Grin2a upregulation in pPVT facilitated only anxiety.
