Mapping the anatomy of placebo analgesia

Massieh Moayedi^{1

2

3}, Lauren Y Atlas^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁵ National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁶ National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Comment

Massieh Moayedi et al. Science. 2025.

. 2025 Aug 28;389(6763):875-876.

doi: 10.1126/science.aea2370. Epub 2025 Aug 28.

Massieh Moayedi^{1

2

3}, Lauren Y Atlas^{4

5

6}

¹ Centre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁵ National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁶ National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Abstract

The identification of somatotopy in brainstem pain modulatory pathways could help treat chronic pain.

Somatotopic organization of brainstem analgesic circuitry.
Crawford LS, Tinoco Mendoza FA, Robertson RV, Meylakh N, Macey PM, Bannister K, Wager TD, Macefield VG, Keay KA, Henderson LA. Crawford LS, et al. Science. 2025 Aug 28;389(6763):eadu8846. doi: 10.1126/science.adu8846. Epub 2025 Aug 28. Science. 2025. PMID: 40875849