Cannabinoids in the amygdala-parabrachial circuit, and the regulation of pain

• Grant number: 19/12439-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2019
• End date: September 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Physiological Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Christie Ramos Andrade Leite Panissi
• Grantee: Gleice Kelli Ribeiro da Silva Cardoso
• Supervisor: Asaf Keller
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/06877-5 - Systemic treatment with canabidiol in a neuropathic pain model: evaluation of the sensorial-discriminative and emotional-motivacional components pain sensitivity, BP.DR

Abstract

The neuropathic pain, it develops as a consequence of an injury or disease that affects somatosensory pathways in the peripheral or central nervous system and accompanies many systemic diseases. Among the neurochemical systems of pain modulation, the cannabinoid system is an important endogenous system that participates in the circuit of pain sensitivity, functioning parallel to the opioid system and playing crucial roles in the development and resolution of pain states, as well as affective and cognitive aspects of pain. Nociceptive signals originating from the periphery are transported to the brain via specific afferent and ascending pathways. The spino- (trigemino-) parabrachio-amygdaloid pathway is one of the main mediator pathways of specific ascending neuron signals from nociception to the central amygdala, a limbic structure involved in emotional responses associated with the aversive signal, including the emotional aspects of pain. Evidence has implicated the amygdala in pain modulation, and it appears that the amygdala is critically involved in both pain enhancement (hyperalgesia) and pain reduction (hypoalgesia or analgesia). The capsular part of the central amygdala (CeC) is called the "nociceptive amygdala," since it receives nociceptive information from various pathways, including the monosynaptic entry of the lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPB), a major target of ascending neurons in the spinal cord and dorsal horn. Thus, based on the literature, we will investigate the hypothesis that the CB1 receptor presynaptically regulates the release of GABA from amygdala stimuli in parabrachial neurons to suppress pain in a chronic pain model (infra-orbital nerve constriction). we intend to understand the mechanisms that would be involved in modulation of neuropathic pain and related to endocannabinoid neurotransmission in the amygdala inhibitory projection to the parabrachial nucleus. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SILVA-CARDOSO, GLEICE K.; LAZARINI-LOPES, WILLIAN; PRIMINI, EDUARDO OCTAVIANO; HALLAK, JAIME E.; CRIPPA, JOSE A.; ZUARDI, ANTONIO W.; GARCIA-CAIRASCO, NORBERTO; LEITE-PANISSI, CHRISTIE R. A.. Cannabidiol modulates chronic neuropathic pain aversion behavior by attenuation of neuroinflammation markers and neuronal activity in the corticolimbic circuit in male Wistar rats. Behavioural Brain Research, v. 452, p. 16-pg., 2023-08-24. (21/13622-6, 19/12439-3, 22/05471-0, 18/06877-5, 14/50891-1)