A brainstem pathway underlying vagal modulation of somatic pain and
affective states.
Tang Y, Shao R, Luo L, Liao L, Wang X, Zhu H, Xiao X, Deng H.
Nat Neurosci. 2026 Jul;29(7):1638-1653. doi: 10.1038\/s41593-026-02313-0.
Epub 2026 Jun 3.
PMID: 42237031<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nAbstract
\nVagus nerve stimulation (VNS) alleviates pain, yet the underlying neural
\nmechanisms remain elusive. Furthermore, the caudal nucleus of the
\nsolitary tract (cNTS) receives vagal and somatic inputs, but how it
\ntransforms pain signals into behavior and how VNS modulates this
\nprocessing remain unclear. Here we identified a population of cNTS
\nneurons projecting to the periaqueductal gray (PAG) (cNTSPAG) as a
\ncritical node for VNS-dependent suppression of pain and negative affect
\nin mice. Optogenetic activation of cNTSPAG neurons recapitulated pain
\nbehavior. These neurons exhibited modality-specific encoding of pain and
\npredictive signals after learning. Inhibition of spinal input-defined
\ncNTSPAG neurons reduced mechanical, but not thermal, nociception.
\nNotably, VNS selectively dampened pain-evoked cNTSPAG activity by
\nrecruiting local inhibition and attenuated pain-evoked dopamine
\nreductions in the nucleus accumbens through cNTSPAG. Our findings
\nestablish a brainstem pathway with a previously unrecognized role in VNS
\nmodulation of pain and negative affect, providing insights for targeted
\nneuromodulation in pain management.
\n—
\nYae K. Sugimura
\nResearch Associate, PhD
\nDepartment of Neuroscience,
\nCenter for Neuroscience of Pain,
\nJikei University School of Medicine
\n3-25-8 Nishi-shimbashi, Minato,
\nTokyo 105-8461, Japan.
\nTel. 813 3433 1111 ext. 2396
\nFax. 813 5400 1231<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u6765\u90319\u67082\u65e5\u306eNeuroClub\u3092\u62c5\u5f53\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3001\u795e\u7d4c\u79d1\u5b66\u7814\u7a76\u90e8\u306e\u6749\u6751\u3067\u3059\u3002 \u4e0b\u8a18\u306e\u8ad6\u6587\u3092\u7d39\u4ecb\u3044\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002 \u3088\u308d\u3057\u304f\u304a\u9858\u3044\u3044\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002 A brainstem pathway underlying vagal modulat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-club"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":607,"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions\/607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuroclub.jikei-neuroscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}