The Anterior Cingulate Cortex Is a Critical Hub for Pain-Induced Depression

Synaptic plasticity in the anterior cingulate cortex in acute and chronic pain

“…Conversely, in naive rodents, electrical stimulation of the ACC in the absence of any peripheral noxious stimulation induces aversion to the place where it was delivered, indicating that activation of this region is sufficient to induce behaviour consistent with the affective component of pain 43 . Notably, however, in rodent models of neuropathic pain, mechanical allodynia is not consistently attenuated by lesions of the ACC, suggesting that other cortical areas might also be involved in the sensory components of this chronic pain state 45,48,49 .…”

“…Permanent lesion or chemical inactivation of the ACC in rodents also produces anxiolytic effects 134 . Furthermore, a recent study found that selective optogenetic activation of pyramidal neurons of the ACC in mice induced anxiety-and depression-like behaviour 48 . These findings further support the idea that activity in ACC neurons influences anxiety.…”

Gray matter abnormalities associated with fibromyalgia: A meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometric studies

“…Goodkind and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of large-scale structural neuroimaging studies across multiple psychiatric diagnoses, and found that GM loss in the dorsal ACC and insula was a common neurobiological substrate for mental illness [45]. Recent evidence from an animal model study reveals the critical role of the ACC in encoding the anxiodepressive consequences of chronic pain [46]. These data suggest that the ACC is an overlapping hub critically involved in regulating mood disorders and in processing the emotional aspects of pain [47].…”

Treatment-resistant depression: are animal models of depression fit for purpose?

“…We note also that the optogenetic method can be used to generate depressive-like behaviours and to investigate the mechanisms underlying remission. Repeated stimulation of glutamatergic neurons from the anterior cingulate cortex is sufficient to elicit depressivelike behaviours (Barthas et al 2015), while photoactivation of the vmPFC (Covington et al 2010), of the projections from vmPFC to the DRN or of the projections from VTA to mPFC (Friedman et al 2014) all restore depressive behaviours elicited by social defeat. This procedure may be helpful in refining the targets for DBS.…”