中国科学技术大学生命科学与医学部张智团队与美国国立卫生研究院刘元渊团队以及安徽医科大学陶文娟团队共同合作，在声音镇痛的神经环路机制方面取得进展。该研究成果2022年7月8日在线发表于《科学》杂志上。

研究人员发现声音在小鼠中的镇痛作用取决于相对环境噪声约5分贝的声强差 (SNR)，因此建立了声音镇痛的小鼠模型。 病毒追踪、显微内窥镜钙成像和自由移动小鼠的多极记录表明，低信噪比声音抑制了从听觉皮层 (ACx^Glu) 到丘脑后核 (PO) 和腹后核 (VP) 的谷氨酸能输入。ACx^Glu→PO 和 ACx^Glu→VP 回路的光遗传学或化学遗传学抑制分别模拟了发炎的后爪和前爪中的低SNR声音诱导的镇痛作用。这两个环路的人工激活消除了声音诱导的镇痛作用。

他们的研究通过破译听觉系统在疼痛处理中的作用，揭示了声音促进镇痛背后的皮质丘脑回路。

据介绍，声音（包括音乐和噪音）可以减轻人类的疼痛，但潜在的神经机制仍然未知。

附：英文原文

Title: Sound induces analgesia through corticothalamic circuits

Author: Wenjie Zhou, Chonghuan Ye, Haitao Wang, Yu Mao, Weijia Zhang, An Liu, Chen-Ling Yang, Tianming Li, Lauren Hayashi, Wan Zhao, Lin Chen, Yuanyuan Liu, Wenjuan Tao, Zhi Zhang

Issue&Volume: 2022-07-08

Abstract: Sound—including music and noise—can relieve pain in humans, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown. We discovered that analgesic effects of sound depended on a low (5-decibel) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) relative to ambient noise in mice. Viral tracing, microendoscopic calcium imaging, and multitetrode recordings in freely moving mice showed that low-SNR sounds inhibited glutamatergic inputs from the auditory cortex (ACxGlu) to the thalamic posterior (PO) and ventral posterior (VP) nuclei. Optogenetic or chemogenetic inhibition of the ACxGlu→PO and ACxGlu→VP circuits mimicked the low-SNR sound–induced analgesia in inflamed hindpaws and forepaws, respectively. Artificial activation of these two circuits abolished the sound-induced analgesia. Our study reveals the corticothalamic circuits underlying sound-promoted analgesia by deciphering the role of the auditory system in pain processing.

DOI: abn4663

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn4663