Central Recruitment mechanism of Itch and Pain Through the Paraventricular Thalamic Nucleus in a Pathway- and Intensity-Dependent Manner

Central Recruitment mechanism of Itch and Pain Through the Paraventricular Thalamic Nucleus in a Pathway- and Intensity-Dependent Manner | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Central Recruitment mechanism of Itch and Pain Through the Paraventricular Thalamic Nucleus in a Pathway- and Intensity-Dependent Manner Yun-Qing Li, Jia-Ni Li, Liu-Jie Zhao, Xue-Mei Wu, Feng-Ling Wu, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5615052/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The brain is capable of differentiating itch and pain sensations. However, how does the largely overlapped list of nuclei in itch- and pain-matrixes differentially respond to pruriceptive and nociceptive inputs remains unclear. The present study identified distinct recruitment of the central amygdala nucleus (CeA) and the insular cortex (IC), key nodes in both itch- and pain-matrixes, through a parabrachial nucleus (PBN)-paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) pathway that mitigates itch and heightens pain sensations in an intensity-dependent manner. The PVT was divided into discrete functional neuronal ensembles based on morphological, behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Moreover, lower stimulus intensity was required in PBN-PVT-CeA pathway activation to simulate itch-suppressing effect and induce allodynia than the PBN-PVT-IC pathway. The current work has elucidated the PVT as an essential information sorting nucleus in the thalamus, which might provide a new framework for understanding central nuclei recruitment mechanism of itch and pain. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Neural circuits Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Somatosensory system/Pain paraventricular thalamic nucleus central amygdala nucleus insular cortex itch pain neuronal pathway recruitment Full Text Additional Declarations All experiments were approved and oversighted by the Animal Care and Use Committees at the Fourth Military Medical University (Xi’an, People’s Republic of China). There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Supplementarymaterials241203.pdf Supplementary materials video1.scratchingbehavior.mp4 video 1 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5615052","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":397384861,"identity":"637982cb-ff21-4812-a759-b87f004cd45d","order_by":0,"name":"Yun-Qing 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