Modulation of itch and pain signals processing in ventrobasal thalamus by thalamic reticular nucleus
Peng-Fei Liu,
Yan Wang,
Ling Xu,
An-Feng Xiang,
Ming-Zhe Liu,
Ya-Bing Zhu,
Xin Jia,
Rui Zhang,
Jin-Bao Li,
Ling Zhang,
Di Mu
Affiliations
Peng-Fei Liu
Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201620, China
Yan Wang
Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201620, China
Ling Xu
Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201620, China
An-Feng Xiang
The First Rehabilitation Hospital of Shanghai, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200090, China
Ming-Zhe Liu
Department of Respiratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510120, China
Ya-Bing Zhu
Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201620, China
Xin Jia
The First Rehabilitation Hospital of Shanghai, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200090, China
Rui Zhang
Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201620, China
Jin-Bao Li
Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201620, China
Ling Zhang
The First Rehabilitation Hospital of Shanghai, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200090, China; Corresponding author
Di Mu
Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201620, China; Corresponding author
Summary: Thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) is known to be crucial for dynamically modulating sensory processing. Recently, the functional role of TRN in itch and pain sensation processing has drawn much attention. We found that ventrobasal thalamus (VB) neurons exhibited scratching behavior-related and nociceptive behavior-related neuronal activity changes, and most of VB neurons responsive to pruritic stimulus were also activated by nociceptive stimulus. Inhibition of VB could relieve itch-induced scratching behaviors and pathological pain without affecting basal nociceptive thresholds, and activation of VB could facilitate scratching behaviors. Tracing and electrophysiology recording results showed that VB mainly received inhibitory inputs from ventral TRN. Furthermore, optogenetic activation of TRN-VB projections suppressed scratching behaviors, and ablation of TRN enhanced scratching behaviors. In addition, activation of TRN-VB projections relieved the pathological pain without affecting basal nociceptive thresholds. Thus, our study indicates that TRN modulates itch and pain signals processing via TRN-VB inhibitory projections.
