Sound induces analgesia through corticothalamic circuits

Science. 2022 Jul 8;377(6602):198-204. doi: 10.1126/science.abn4663. Epub 2022 Jul 7.

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.

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation*
  • Animals
  • Audioanalgesia*
  • Auditory Cortex* / physiology
  • Mice
  • Music Therapy*
  • Pain Management* / methods
  • Pain Perception*
  • Pain*
  • Sound
  • Thalamus* / physiology