[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-430696-105":59,"doc-detail-430696-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","brain-networking-pain-and-anxiety-from-basic-mechanism-to-future-treatment-min-zhuo","Brain networking pain and anxiety - From basic mechanism to future treatment - Min Zhuo","","Pain and anxiety reinforce each other in both animals and humans, particularly in chronic pain where patients commonly develop anxiety and depression. Animal models clarify core mechanisms across brain levels. Cortical studies highlight anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insular cortex (IC) in linking pain-related suffering with emotional anxiety. Synaptic plasticity, including long-term potentiation (LTP), also contributes. Subcortical work implicates anterior and posterior PVT projections to BLA and CeA, guiding potential future treatments.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/brain-networking-pain-and-anxiety-from-basic-mechanism-to-future-treatment-min-zhuo/430696/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/brain-networking-pain-and-anxiety-from-basic-mechanism-to-future-treatment-min-zhuo/430696.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Kyle","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"How do pain and anxiety interact in chronic pain conditions?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"Pain and anxiety enhance each other in animals and humans. Chronic pain often leads patients to experience anxiety and depression, with fear and anxiety becoming long-lasting when treatment fails.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"Which brain regions are highlighted for pain-related unpleasantness and emotional anxiety?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insular cortex (IC) are described as key cortical regions involved in both pain-related suffering and emotional anxiety.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"What synaptic mechanism is proposed to link memory, chronic pain, and emotional anxiety?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Long-term potentiation (LTP) is presented as a key cellular mechanism for memory and chronic pain, and it is also found to contribute to emotional anxiety in animal models.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},430696,1790742494,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":46,"preview_page_count":4},3985741905716,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","Brain networking pain and anxiety: From basic mechanism to future treatment  \nMin Zhuo 1,2  \nMolecular Pain Volume 22: 1–8  \n© The Author(s) 2026  \nArticle reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/17448069251411647](DOI: 10.1177/17448069251411647)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/17448069251411647)[journals.sagepub.com/home/mpx](journals.sagepub.com/home/mpx)  \nAbstract  \nIt is well known that pain and anxiety can enhance each other in both animals and humans. In case of chronic pain, patients often suffer anxiety and depression. Animal experiments provide important basic mechanisms for the interaction between chronic pain and anxiety. At cortical level, recent studies have consistently indicated that anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insular cortex (IC), two critical cortical regions for pain-related unpleasantness and suffering, are also involved in the process of emotional anxiety. At synaptic level, long-term potentiation (LTP), a key cellular mechanism for memory and chronic pain, has also been found to contribute to emotional anxiety in animal models of chronic pain. In a recent study published in Neuron by the group of Prof. Xu, it has been found that at subcortical level, anterior and posterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) contribute to pain and anxiety through distinct projections to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and central amygdala (CeA). In this review, I will first introduce the recent work by Prof Xu, and then discuss possible mechanisms at different levels for pain and anxiety in the condition of chronic pain, including chronic visceral pain. Some of medicines used in the current treatment will be analyzed, and potential future treatment for pain and anxiety in chronic pain conditions will be discussed.  \nKeywords  \nChronic pain, anxiety, thalamus, ACC, amygdala, network, adult mice, synaptic plasticity  \nDate received: 15 August 2025; revised: 18 September 2025; accepted: 10 October 2025  \nIntroduction  \nIt has been long known that pain and emotion are highly interacted. 1,2 As human experience, physiological pain or acute pain can easily trigger anxiety and fear in both human and animals. Such anxiety and fear often serve as protective functions, and prevent potential injuries.3 Furthermore, acute anxiety often contributes the motivation for future actions. However, in case of chronic pain caused by injuries, human often experience long-lasting fear and anxiety, especially when the medical treatment failed to control chronic pain. While animal models of anxiety and fear are often limited to completely mimic changes of emotional responses in humans, animal models of chronic pain have recently reproduced some enhanced anxiety and fear. The integrative neurological approaches such as genetic knockout, optogenetic methods, neuropharmacological and behavioral methods, have helped us to understand molecular insights for the long-term changes in the brain. In this minireview and commentary for a recent paper4 from Prof. Xu, I will first briefly review recent progress  \nof cortical and amygdala roles in chronic pain and anxiety, and then discuss special roles of posterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) in relaying pain and anxiety. Synaptic and intracellular mechanism will be also discussed.  \nCortical circuits involved in different types of pain  \nBrain imaging studies in humans have provided critical information about the cortical regions involved in different  \n1 School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China  \n2Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada  \nCorresponding Author:  \nMin Zhuo, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Medical Science Building, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada.  \n[Email: min.zhuo@utoronto.ca](Email: min.zhuo@utoronto.ca)  \nCreative Commons Non Co","cbCaiqXfoFQyeSXv","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqXfoFQyeSXv","pdf",755346,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Cortical circuits involved in different types of pain","[{\"question\":\"How do pain and anxiety interact in chronic pain conditions?\",\"answer\":\"Pain and anxiety enhance each other in animals and humans. Chronic pain often leads patients to experience anxiety and depression, with fear and anxiety becoming long-lasting when treatment fails.\"},{\"question\":\"Which brain regions are highlighted for pain-related unpleasantness and emotional anxiety?\",\"answer\":\"The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insular cortex (IC) are described as key cortical regions involved in both pain-related suffering and emotional anxiety.\"},{\"question\":\"What synaptic mechanism is proposed to link memory, chronic pain, and emotional anxiety?\",\"answer\":\"Long-term potentiation (LTP) is presented as a key cellular mechanism for memory and chronic pain, and it is also found to contribute to emotional anxiety in animal models.\"}]","Brain networking pain and anxiety - From basic mechanism to future treatment - Min Zhuo | PDF",1790653474]