Somatosensation and pain

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Neuropathic pain involves a profound switch in sensitivity such that low-intensity input can generate pain. Different from nociceptive pain, neuropathic pain is indeed a disruption of the normal pattern of pain specificity. Clinically, peripheral neuropathic pain is widely present in patients suffering from peripheral nerve trauma, toxic and metabolic neuropathies, and viral infectious diseases such as Herpes zoster and AIDS. Unfortunately, traditional anti-pain medicines often fail to show satisfactory effects in treating neuropathic pain. Currently, a number of mechanisms have been postulated, either independently or together, to promote neuropathic pain: central sensitization, disinhibition, and central afferent terminal sprouting. However, how and whether top-down control is involved in neuropathic pain remains poorly understood. In our previous studies, we showed that the corticospinal neurons are required for controlling both tactile and mechanical allodynia sensitivity and thereby demonstrated a first case of a direct top-down control from the cortex (Liu et al., Nature, 2018). This project is a natural extension of previous studies. With electrophysiology, single cell sequencing and imaging techniques, we explored both up-stream and down-stream targets of corticospinal neurons and are trying to decipher their roles in regulating tactile and neuropathic pain sensitivity. By further dissection of neural circuits involved in somatosensation and pain control, our study shed light into the underlying mechanisms of pain hypersensitivity and design of novel therapeutic interventions to treat pain.