Preclinical studies coupled with clinical pharmacologic and neuroimaging investigations
have advanced our understanding of brain circuits that modulate pain. Descending pain …

The treatment and management of chronic pain is a major challenge for clinicians. Chronic
pain is often underdiagnosed and undertreated, and there is a lack of awareness of the …

Our knowledge of the existence of endogenous descending pain modulatory systems spans
at least three decades and we now know that brain stem descending pathways constitute a …

Pain is a highly complex and subjective experience that is not linearly related to the
nociceptive input. What is clear from anecdotal reports over the centuries and more recently …

Conditioned pain modulation is a powerful analgesic mechanism, occurring when a painful
stimulus is inhibited by a second painful stimulus delivered at a different body location …

Chronic pain, whether the result of nerve trauma or persistent inflammation, is a debilitating
condition that exerts a high social cost in terms of productivity, economic impact and quality …

In this review, we integrate recent human and animal studies from the viewpoint of chronic
pain. First, we briefly review the impact of chronic pain on society and address current pitfalls …

Clinical pain is a serious public health issue. Treatment of pain-related suffering requires
knowledge of how pain signals are initially interpreted and subsequently transmitted and …

There is now increasing evidence that pathological pain states are at least in part driven by
changes in the brain itself. Descending modulatory pathways are known to mediate top …

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews that the magnitude of the ascending nociceptive
signal and the consequent pain sensation can be greatly influenced by descending …