TY - JOUR TI - Revealing a novel nociceptive network that links the subthalamic nucleus to pain processing AU - Pautrat, Arnaud AU - Rolland, Marta AU - Barthelemy, Margaux AU - Baunez, Christelle AU - Sinniger, Valérie AU - Piallat, Brigitte AU - Savasta, Marc AU - Overton, Paul G AU - David, Olivier AU - Coizet, Veronique A2 - Mason, Peggy A2 - King, Andrew J VL - 7 PY - 2018 DA - 2018/08/28 SP - e36607 C1 - eLife 2018;7:e36607 DO - 10.7554/eLife.36607 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.36607 AB - Pain is a prevalent symptom of Parkinson’s disease, and is effectively treated by deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). However, the link between pain and the STN remains unclear. In the present work, using in vivo electrophysiology in rats, we report that STN neurons exhibit complex tonic and phasic responses to noxious stimuli. We also show that nociception is altered following lesions of the STN, and characterize the role of the superior colliculus and the parabrachial nucleus in the transmission of nociceptive information to the STN, physiologically from both structures and anatomically in the case of the parabrachial nucleus. We show that STN nociceptive responses are abnormal in a rat model of PD, suggesting their dependence on the integrity of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. The STN-linked nociceptive network that we reveal is likely to be of considerable clinical importance in neurological diseases involving a dysfunction of the basal ganglia. KW - subthalamic nucleus KW - pain, nociceptive network KW - subcortical hyperdirect pathway KW - parabrachial nucleus KW - superior colliculus JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -