Melanocortin-4 receptor signaling in the central amygdala mediates chronic inflammatory pain effects on nociception.

ABSTRACT: Chronic inflammatory pain represents one of the largest subsets of chronic pain diagnoses, which affect nearly a quarter of individuals in the United States and cost nearly $600 billion dollars annually. Chronic pain leads to persistent sensory hypersensitivities, as well as emotional and cognitive disturbances. Evidence suggests that melanocortin 4 receptors (MC4Rs) mediate pain-signaling and pain-like behaviors via actions at various nodes in the pain-neural axis, but the field lacks a complete understanding of the potential role of MC4Rs in chronic inflammatory pain in males and females. The central amygdala (CeA) expresses high quantities of MC4R and receives pain-related information from the periphery, and in vivo CeA manipulations alter nociceptive behavior in pain-naïve and in anima

SUBMITTER: Sharfman NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9012320 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature