Touch and tactile neuropathic pain sensitivity are set by corticospinal projections

Yuanyuan Liu, Alban Latremoliere, Xinjian Li, Zicong Zhang, Mengying Chen, Xuhua Wang, Chao Fang, Junjie Zhu, Chloe Alexandre, Zhongyang Gao, Bo Chen, Xin Ding, Jin-Yong Zhou, Yiming Zhang, Chinfei Chen, Kuan Hong Wang (), Clifford J. Woolf () and Zhigang He ()
Additional contact information
Yuanyuan Liu: Boston Children’s Hospital
Alban Latremoliere: Boston Children’s Hospital
Xinjian Li: Clinical and Translational Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
Zicong Zhang: Boston Children’s Hospital
Mengying Chen: Boston Children’s Hospital
Xuhua Wang: Boston Children’s Hospital
Chao Fang: Boston Children’s Hospital
Junjie Zhu: Boston Children’s Hospital
Chloe Alexandre: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Zhongyang Gao: Boston Children’s Hospital
Bo Chen: Boston Children’s Hospital
Xin Ding: Boston Children’s Hospital
Jin-Yong Zhou: Boston Children’s Hospital
Yiming Zhang: Boston Children’s Hospital
Chinfei Chen: Boston Children’s Hospital
Kuan Hong Wang: Clinical and Translational Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
Clifford J. Woolf: Boston Children’s Hospital
Zhigang He: Boston Children’s Hospital

Nature, 2018, vol. 561, issue 7724, 547-550

Abstract: Abstract Current models of somatosensory perception emphasize transmission from primary sensory neurons to the spinal cord and on to the brain1–4. Mental influence on perception is largely assumed to occur locally within the brain. Here we investigate whether sensory inflow through the spinal cord undergoes direct top-down control by the cortex. Although the corticospinal tract (CST) is traditionally viewed as a primary motor pathway5, a subset of corticospinal neurons (CSNs) originating in the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex directly innervate the spinal dorsal horn via CST axons. Either reduction in somatosensory CSN activity or transection of the CST in mice selectively impairs behavioural responses to light touch without altering responses to noxious stimuli. Moreover, such CSN manipulation greatly attenuates tactile allodynia in a model of peripheral neuropathic pain. Tactile stimulation activates somatosensory CSNs, and their corticospinal projections facilitate light-touch-evoked activity of cholecystokinin interneurons in the deep dorsal horn. This touch-driven feed-forward spinal–cortical–spinal sensitization loop is important for the recruitment of spinal nociceptive neurons under tactile allodynia. These results reveal direct cortical modulation of normal and pathological tactile sensory processing in the spinal cord and open up opportunities for new treatments for neuropathic pain.

Keywords: Corticospinal Neurons (CSNs); Tactile Sensory Processing; Dorsal Horn; Pyramidotomy; Brush Stimulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0515-2

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