Potentiation of the lateral habenula-ventral tegmental area pathway underlines the susceptibility to depression in mice with chronic pain.

Chronic pain often develops severe mood changes such as depression. However, how chronic pain leads to depression remains elusive and the mechanisms determining individuals' responses to depression are largely unexplored. Here we found that depression-like behaviors could only be observed in 67.9% of mice with chronic neuropathic pain, leaving 32.1% of mice with depression resilience. We determined that the spike discharges of the ventral tegmental area (VTA)-projecting lateral habenula (LHb) glutamatergic (Glu) neurons were sequentially increased in sham, resilient and susceptible mice, which consequently inhibited VTA dopaminergic (DA) neurons through a LHbGlu-VTAGABA-VTADA circuit. Furthermore, the LHbGlu-VTADA excitatory inputs were dampened via GABAB receptors in a pre-synaptic manner. Regulation of LHb-VTA pathway largely affected the development of depressive symptoms caused by chronic pain. Our study thus identifies a pivotal role of the LHb-VTA pathway in coupling chronic pain with depression and highlights the activity-dependent contribution of LHbGlu-to-VTADA inhibition in depressive behavioral regulation. © 2023. Science China Press.

Citation

Chun-Kui Zhang, Pan Wang, Yuan-Yuan Ji, Jian-Shuai Zhao, Jun-Xiang Gu, Xian-Xia Yan, Hong-Wei Fan, Ming-Ming Zhang, Yu Qiao, Xiao-Die Liu, Bao-Juan Li, Ming-Hui Wang, Hai-Long Dong, Hao-Hong Li, Peng-Cheng Huang, Yun-Qing Li, Wu-Gang Hou, Jin-Lian Li, Tao Chen. Potentiation of the lateral habenula-ventral tegmental area pathway underlines the susceptibility to depression in mice with chronic pain. Science China. Life sciences. 2024 Jan;67(1):67-82

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PMID: 37864083

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