Optical inactivation of the anterior cingulate cortex modulate descending pain pathway in a rat model of trigeminal neuropathic pain created via chronic constriction injury of the infraorbital nerve

Purpose: The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a critical role in the initiation, development, and maintenance of neuropathic pain. Recently, the effects of optical stimulation on pain have been investigated, but the therapeutic effects of optical stimulation on trigeminal neuralgia (TN) have not been clearly shown. Here, we investigated the effects of optical inhibition of the ACC on TN lesions to determine whether the alleviation of pain...