| First Author | Agostinelli LJ | Year | 2021 |
| Journal | J Comp Neurol | Volume | 529 |
| Issue | 8 | Pages | 2125-2137 |
| PubMed ID | 33247430 | Mgi Jnum | J:312192 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6718233 | Doi | 10.1002/cne.25076 |
| Citation | Agostinelli LJ, et al. (2021) Novel inhibitory brainstem neurons with selective projections to spinal lamina I reduce both pain and itch. J Comp Neurol 529(8):2125-2137 |
| abstractText | Sensory information is transmitted from peripheral nerves, through the spinal cord, and up to the brain ("bottom up" pathway). Some of this information may be modulated by "top-down" projections from the brain to the spinal cord. Discovering endogenous mechanisms for reducing pain and itch holds enormous potential for developing new treatments. However, neurons mediating the top-down inhibition of pain are not well understood, nor has any such pathway been identified for itch sensation. Here, we identify a novel population of GABAergic neurons in the ventral brainstem, distinguished by prodynorphin expression, which we named LJA5. LJA5 neurons provide the only known inhibitory projection specifically to lamina I of the spinal cord, which contains sensory neurons that transmit pain and itch information up to the brain. Chemogenetically activating LJA5 neurons in male mice reduces capsaicin-induced pain and histamine-induced itch. Identifying this new pathway opens new treatment opportunities for chronic, refractory pain, and pruritis. |
