Dual roles of anterior cingulate cortex neurons in pain and pleasure in adult mice

Human and animal studies indicate that some brain regions are activated during painful and pleasant situations, such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In the present study, we wanted to determine if some of the same neurons in the ACC may be activated by both pain and pleasure. We labeled neurons activated by two stimuli by using two immediate early genes (IEGs), Arc and Homer1a, and detected the intranuclear transcription of the IEG mRNA in situ. We found that there are double-labeling neurons in the ACC after the mice received pain and sexual attraction stimulation. The double-labeling ACC neurons were higher in male mice exposed to female mice (attractive stimulus) than the group exposed to male mice (normal stimulus). The IEG, which indicates the sexual attraction, were also higher in the female exposing group, while the IEG indicating pain showed no significant variance between two groups. Our findings suggest that ACC neurons play important roles in the process of both pain and pleasure.