Borsook, DavidUpadhyay, JayminChudler, Eric HBecerra, Lino2013-01-152010Borsook, David, Jaymin Upadhyay, Eric H. Chudler, and Lino Becerra. 2010. A key role of the basal ganglia in pain and analgesia - insights gained through human functional imaging. Molecular Pain 6:27.1744-8069http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:10178136The basal ganglia (BG) are composed of several nuclei involved in neural processing related to the execution of motor, cognitive and emotional activities. Preclinical and clinical data have implicated a role for these structures in pain processing. Recently neuroimaging has added important information on BG activation in conditions of acute pain, chronic pain and as a result of drug effects. Our current understanding of alterations in cortical and sub-cortical regions in pain suggests that the BG are uniquely involved in thalamo-cortico-BG loops to integrate many aspects of pain. These include the integration of motor, emotional, autonomic and cognitive responses to pain.en-USJournal Article2013-01-1510.1186/1744-8069-6-27