# Investigating neural mechanisms of hypersensitivity in chronic pain

> **NIH NIH K00** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2024 · $85,503

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 Pain is a complex experience often associated with noxious stimulation. However, for individuals with
Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions (COPCs), the central nervous system can augment or cause pain in the
absence of noxious input. Many of these patients have diffuse hyperalgesia (elevated pain responses to
noxious stimuli) and allodynia (perception of pain for non-noxious stimuli). Additionally, chronic pain patients
are hypersensitive to a variety of sensory stimuli (such as light, odor and sound), suggesting a global
impairment in sensory processing. Pain processing in the CNS normally occurs via ascending and descending
nociceptive pathways which integrate in several brain areas, including the thalamus, and the cingulate,
somatosensory, prefrontal and insular cortices. Importantly, none of the brain regions mentioned above are
uniquely associated with the perception of pain, therefore pain most likely involves coordinated activity within a
network of brain regions that play a role in pain perception. Studying the brain as a complex network of
interconnected regions might provide unique insights to the underlying pathophysiology of chronic centralized
pain conditions
 Our overall objective is to identify neural mechanisms that contribute to sensory hypersensitivity in
chronic pain patients. The short-term training goal for the F99 phase is to learn and use quantitative sensory
testing and advanced computational methods to measure functional connectivity and network properties of
fMRI data. Network analyses will provide novel insights into the interaction of functional brain networks during
sensory processing that contribute to visual hypersensitivity. My dissertation work (Research Aims 1 & 2) along
with the training plan will provide evidence for the functional relationship between pain and visual processing
areas. This offers a foundational premise for the long-term goal, to be completed during the K00 phase, which
is to utilize multimodal imaging to investigate casual interactions between brain areas involved in pain and
sensory processing that contribute to hypersensitivity in chronic pain.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10904661
- **Project number:** 5K00NS108556-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Tony Edward Larkin
- **Activity code:** K00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $85,503
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-31 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10904661

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10904661, Investigating neural mechanisms of hypersensitivity in chronic pain (5K00NS108556-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10904661. Licensed CC0.

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