Determining the impact of BNST CRF systems on inflammatory pain-induced disruptions of behavior

疼痛是目前美国长期残疾的最常见原因，影响超过7000万人。 美国人和全世界15亿人。治疗疼痛的第一线药物是阿片类药物，但 吸毒与成瘾、依赖和过量有关。减少对阿片依赖的战略 慢性疼痛的治疗是为了更好地了解介导慢性疼痛不同方面的电路， 识别非阿片样物质机制以恢复正常回路功能和行为。皮质激素释放 终纹床核（BNST）中的促肾上腺皮质激素释放因子（CRF）信号转导已被证明可调节这两种作用。 与疼痛相关的伤害性和情感/动机行为，然而， 以通用报告格式系统为目标的改革尚待探索。鉴于开发治疗方法的迫切需要 针对慢性疼痛的情感和动机方面，这可能是一条重要的前进道路。我们 假设持续性炎性疼痛导致BNST中CRF信号的激活增加， 情感行为中断和动机降低。我们认为BNST功能的调节剂， CRF信号可能为研究和治疗伤害性和动机/情感性提供新的途径 疼痛的方面。与此相关的是，我们在初步研究中发现， 投射到BNST的多巴胺（PAGDA）神经元，其在激活时表现出抗伤害感受特性， 强调了BNST中的多巴胺是疼痛相关行为的关键抑制剂的可能性。先前 研究发现这些PAGDA神经元在阿片样物质诱导的抗伤害感受中起关键作用。客观 这一建议的目的是严格和机械地确定PAGDA到BNSTCRF电路的作用， 炎症疼痛驱动的行为变化，长期目标是确定新的治疗方法， 炎性疼痛。我们已经收集了强有力的数据，表明急性疼痛涉及这个回路，并假设 这种最初的参与导致了可塑性，有助于炎症性疼痛的持续， 与炎性疼痛相关的情绪行为的发展。这将通过三个 趋同目标

Pain is currently the most common cause of long-term disability in the United States, affecting over 70 million Americans and 1.5 billion people worldwide. The first line of treatment for pain has been opioids, however their use is associated with addiction, dependence and overdose. A strategy for reducing the reliance on opioids for treatment of chronic pain is to better understand the circuits that mediate different aspects of chronic pain and identify non-opioidergic mechanisms to restore normal circuit function and behavior. Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) signaling in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) has been shown to regulate both nociceptive and affective/motivational behaviors associated with pain, however the clinical utility of pharmacologically targeting the CRF system has yet to be explored. Given the critical need to develop treatments to target affective and motivational aspects of chronic pain, this could be an important path forward. We hypothesize that persistent inflammatory pain leads to increased activation of CRF signaling in the BNST leading to disrupted affective behaviors and reduced motivation. We posit that modulators of BNST function that oppose CRF signaling could provide a novel approach to investigate and treat both nociceptive and motivational/affective aspects of pain. Relevant to this, we have found in preliminary studies, a population of periaqueductal gray dopamine (PAGDA) neurons that project to the BNST that exhibit anti-nociceptive properties when activated, highlighting the possibility that dopamine in the BNST is a critical suppressor of pain-related behaviors. Previous studies have found that these PAGDA neurons play a key role in opioid induced anti-nociception. The objective of this proposal is to rigorously and mechanistically determine the role of the PAGDA to BNSTCRF circuit in inflammatory pain-driven changes in behavior, with the long term goal of identifying new treatments for inflammatory pain. We have collected strong data showing that acute pain engages this circuit, and hypothesize that this initial engagement leads to plasticity contributing to the persistence of inflammatory pain, and the development of emotional behaviors associated with inflammatory pain. This will be accomplished via three convergent aims