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Amygdala Pacap As A Mediator Of The Emotional Components Of Pain, Galen Missig

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Chronic pain alters sensory responses and carries a strong emotional component. Persistent pain can heighten pain experiences, resulting in hyperalgesia and allodynia. Further, patients suffering from chronic pain are more prone to experience a range of affective disorders including depression, sleep dysregulation, panic disorders, anxiety abnormalities and stress-related disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Hence while pain serves a protective function to prevent additional physiological harm by driving behavioral and cognitive responses, chronic or persistent pain can lead to maladaptive nociceptive responses and exacerbate psychopathologies. Among brain regions, the amygdala is centrally situated to integrate the many descending and ascending …