Morning Plenary

1. Chronic Pain uses different brain system than Acute Pain. 2. Patients with chronic pain have behavioral disorders. 3. The mesocortico-limbic system is dysfunctional in the brain of chronic pain patients. 4. Exercise is the first-line treatment for chronic pain because it normalizes the function of mesocortico-limbic system. 5. In fact, exercise therapy altered functional connectivity in the limbic system and EEG activity improving clinical symptoms in fibromyalgia patients.

Understanding how distinct types of sensory neurons contribute to pain is key to developing targeted treatments. A specific subgroup of human nociceptors, the so-called “sleeping” nociceptors, are closely linked to neuropathic pain. By combining advanced transcriptomic and electrophysiological approaches, we can now define their molecular identity and examine how sodium channel function shapes their excitability. Using patient-derived sensory neuron models, we can reproduce key activity patterns of these nociceptors in vitro, advancing toward an experimentally accessible human pain model. In my talk, I will illustrate how bridging molecular, cellular, and translational levels of analysis brings us closer to a mechanistic understanding of neuropathic pain in humans.