# Spatiotemporal Coding in the Pain Circuit Along the Spine-brain Continuum

> **NIH NIH R01** · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · 2021 · $352,550

## Abstract

Summary/Abstract
Pain is a national health challenge costing our economy more than $600 Billions per year. Faced with
ineffective therapies, millions of patients are being over-prescribed opioid-based medications, which is
contributing to addiction and lethal overdose.
This application is in response to RFA-NS-18-009 “BRAIN Initiative: Targeted BRAIN Circuits Projects
 (R01)” which calls for “Innovative approaches and new paradigms for identifying and understanding
nociception and pain in the context of circuit mechanisms of the central nervous system”.
 We propose AIM 1) tool development to test the hypothesis that Laminae II/III PV neurons inhibit
nociceptive relay neurons in vivo, AIM 2) behavioral development to validate a novel model for rapid reporting
of sensory stimuli, and AIM 3) combination of real-time neural recording from the spine-brain continuum and
ecological behavior to test the hypothesis that distinct rhythms in sensory thalamus and neocortex are
temporally correlated with tactile and noxious stimuli. Moreover, excitation of PV neurons inhibits thalamic
neurons and modulates thalamocortical rhythms.
 These aims will be investigated using laboratory animal models of pain and state-of-the-art techniques for
simultaneous recording from multiple areas in the spine cord and brain, combined with cell-specific stimulation
in the periphery using optical methods in awake rodents. Therefore, this application will enhance our scientific
understanding of pain mechanisms in the central nervous system and potentially lead to novel diagnostic and
therapeutic approaches.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10267899
- **Project number:** 7R01NS108414-04
- **Recipient organization:** CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU
- **Principal Investigator:** David Allenson Borton
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $352,550
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2018-09-15 → 2023-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10267899

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10267899, Spatiotemporal Coding in the Pain Circuit Along the Spine-brain Continuum (7R01NS108414-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10267899. Licensed CC0.

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