Network dynamics of nociceptive and aversive processing in the anterior cingulate cortex

FERNANDO KASANETZ; THOMAS NEVIAN

Córdoba

Congreso; XXXIII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de investigación en Neurociencias; 2018

Sociedad Argentina de investigación en Neurociencias

The Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) plays a central role in the evaluation of the affective aspects of pain and accumulating evidence indicates that the hyperactivity of the ACC is involved in the manifestation of the emotional distress that characterizes chronic pain (CP) conditions. However, little is known on how the functional organization of ACC microcircuits is affected during CP.Here we addressed how neuronal ensembles of the ACC process nociceptive information and how this microcircuit organization is affected in a mice model of neuropathic pain (NP).Using in vivo recording of spiking activity we have identified a subpopulation of neurons that are activated in response to noxious stimuli and show a preferential increase in spontaneous activity during NP. To gain insight on the organization of ACC ?nociceptive? neuronal ensembles, we have monitored the activity of the same network of neurons on subsequent days during the transition to NP with two-photon calcium imaging. Our preliminary results show that noxious stimuli are codified by the activity of a discrete and partially stable assembly of ACC neurons. Interestingly, these neurons are also activated by other aversive but not noxious stimuli, suggesting that the representation of aversive events in ACC neuronal ensembles is not specific for nociception. Finally, we observed that this fine-tuned representation is degraded during NP resulting in a wide-spread neuronal representation of noxious events.