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The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a key role in pain processing. It has been reported that increased activity of glutamatergic projections into the ACC intensifies nociception; whereas dopaminergic projections inhibit it. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of dopaminergic and NMDA systems of the ACC in the modulation of long-term nociception elicited by sciatic denervation in the rat. Score, onset and incidence of long-term nociception were measured by the autotomy behavior. The effects of a single microinjection into the ACC of different doses of dopamine (100nM, 100 μM and 100 mM), a NMDA receptor antagonist (MK801 200nM and 9.34 mM) and amantadine, a dopamine agonist and NMDA receptor antagonist (10, 100 and 1000 μM) were tested on long-term nociception. Dopamine diminished autotomy behavior in an inverse dose-dependent manner, with dopamine 100nM as most effective …