Mechanism of neural circuit reorganization in the brain that produces ectopic pain

Damage to peripheral sensory nerves causes plastic changes in the circuits of the central nervous system (CNS), leading to the reorganization of the neural circuits. As a result, the body map, which is the body part information of the brain, is reorganized. It has also been proposed that such a phenomenon is the pathological basis of ectopic chronic pain including phantom limb pain and CRPS. However, most of the mechanism of neural circuit remodeling that accompanies the reconstruction of the body site map in CNS is still unclear. In this review, we describe the mechanism of the reorganization of neural circuits and body map in the mouse thalamus after the nerve injury.