Sung Han, Ph.D.
April 5(Tue) - April 5(Tue), 2022
12PM
Online zoom (ID: 728-142-6028)
Neuro@noon Seminar
Date: 12:00 PM, Thursday, April 5th
Speaker: Sung Han, Ph.D.
(Peptide Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies)
Title: Affective pain pathways: From the spinal cord to the amygdala
Abstract: Pain is sensory and emotional experience associated with noxious stimuli that cause damages in our body. Perception of pain protects us from tissue-damaging situations by locating the source of damage, and promoting motivation to avoid harmful situations. It has been suggested that the perception of sensory-discriminative, and affective-motivational domains of pain are governed by different brain structures that receive spinal nociceptive inputs. Recent discoveries pinpointed that the amygdala is a critical brain region that mediates affective-motivational component of pain. However, neural circuit-based understanding by which the amygdala receive nociceptive information is not fully understood. In this presentation, I will report that neurons expressing a neuropeptide, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in the external lateral subdivision of the parabrachial nucleus (CGRPPBel), and the parvocellular Subparafascicular nucleus of the thalamus (CGRPSPFp) relay nociceptive information to two subnuclei of the amygdala, the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), and the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA), respectively. Our results from cutting-edge circuit dissection approaches, such as in vivo calcium imaging, optogenetics, genetic manipulation, and viral tracing will show that these two parallel circuits are critical for affective-motivational pain perception by relaying nociceptive information from the spinal cord to the amygdala subnuclei.