Exploring the role of sexual dimorphism and analyzing behavioral and neurofunctional effects of oxytocin treatment in mice subjected to the hyperalgesic priming model

• Grant number: 24/05877-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: April 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Neuropsychopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Daniela Baptista de Souza
• Grantee: Natália Urel Carneiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCFAR). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/04387-6 - Sex differences and oxytocinergic transmission impact on chronic pain in animal models and humans, AP.JP

Abstract

Chronic pain conditions have a significantly higher prevalence in women and involve physical, psychological and sociocultural aspects. However, only 20% of pre-clinical studies in neuroscience are carried out on males and females. From a neurobiological point of view, the neuromodulator oxytocin is associated with the regulation of pain and processes involving social behaviors. Sex differences in the action of oxytocin on brain areas that modulate emotional responses and pain have been demonstrated. From a clinical perspective, chronic pain can be triggered by surgical procedures. These conditions affect 50% of individuals undergoing different types of surgeries. Within this perspective, there is little information about how biological sex and oxytocinergic neurotransmission affect the perceptual and emotional components in the management of this type of chronic pain. Objectives: To verify whether treatment with oxytocin alters sensory and emotional responses related to pain and whether the effects differ according to gender. Furthermore, the project will seek to evaluate possible neurofunctional and neuroplastic changes in the spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, RVM, periaqueductal gray matter, amygdaloid nuclei and insular and anterior cingulate cortices after systemic oxytocin treatment. (AU)