How serotonin in the amygdala affects long-term nerve pain using tiny flexible brain sensors
Official title: Probing the role of serotonin in neuropathic pain with flexible carbon microelectrode arrays
Funded at Louisiana Tech University · NIH-11080862 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers will use new flexible microelectrode sensors to track serotonin levels and brain activity in the amygdala after nerve injury to learn why some nerve pain becomes chronic.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Louisiana Tech University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ruston, United States) |
| Project start | June 1, 2022 |
| Project end | March 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $278,290 |
| NIH project number | 5R01NS126454-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11080862 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with chronic neuropathic pain—especially those whose pain did not improve with SSRIs or other antidepressants—would be most relevant to future trials informed by this work.
✕Less likely to help
People with non-neuropathic pain (for example, purely inflammatory or mechanical back pain) or those seeking an immediate treatment benefit are unlikely to gain direct help from this preclinical project.
What this research studies
If you have nerve pain, this project is developing tiny flexible glassy-carbon sensor arrays to monitor serotonin and electrical signals in the amygdala of nerve-injured animals over days to weeks, mimicking long-term pain. The devices can record both fast bursts and steady levels of serotonin while capturing multi-channel neural activity at the same time. Scientists will compare animals with and without neuropathic injury and use drugs or genetic tools targeting the 5-HT2C receptor to see how serotonin patterns relate to pain persistence and response to antidepressant-type drugs. The aim is to identify where and how serotonin promotes chronic neuropathic pain to guide better serotonin-based treatments.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reveal why serotonin sometimes drives chronic nerve pain and point to new receptor targets or strategies to make serotonin-related treatments more effective.
How similar studies have gone: Previous rodent studies show blocking 5-HT2C in the amygdala can allow SSRIs to reduce pain and genetic loss of 5-HT2C can prevent neuropathic pain, but long-term multi-channel monitoring with these new sensors is novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Louisiana Tech University
Ruston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Castagnola, Elisa — Louisiana Tech University
- Study coordinator: Castagnola, Elisa
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.