An Adapted Chronic Constriction Injury of the Sciatic Nerve Produces Sensory, Affective, and Cognitive Impairments: A Peripheral Mononeuropathy Model for the Study of Comorbid Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Neuropathic Pain in Rats.

Background: Chronic constriction injury (CCI) is a model of neuropathic pain induced by four loose ligatures around the sciatic nerve. This work aimed to investigate the sensory, affective, cognitive, and motor changes induced by an adaptation of the CCI model by applying a single ligature around the sciatic nerve.

Methods: Mechanical allodynia was measured from day 1 to day 28 postsurgery by the von Frey test.

Relevance of dorsomedial hypothalamus, dorsomedial division of the ventromedial hypothalamus and the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter in the organization of freezing or oriented and non-oriented escape emotional behaviors.

Electrical stimulation of the periaqueductal gray matter and ventromedial hypothalamus in humans showed the involvement of both these structures in panic attacks. The aim of this work was to make clear the role of dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG) matter, dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) and the dorsomedial part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (dmVMH) in panic attack-like behaviors. DMH, dmVMH and dPAG of Wistar rats were treated with N-methyl- d-aspartic acid (NMDA) at different doses.