Source: SfN.

Pain sensitivity associated with alcohol withdrawal may activate the same brain region in both drinking and non-drinking mice, finds a study published in eNeuro.

Monique Smith and colleagues previously showed that “bystander” mice housed with mice undergoing withdrawal from opioids or alcohol experience hyperalgesia, a heightened sensitivity to pain, just like the induced-withdrawal mice. In this study, the authors explored whether brain regions associated with pain and empathy for pain in humans — the somatosensory cortex, insula (INS), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) — might be involved in the social transfer of pain in mice.

Smith and colleagues compared the brain activity of “primary” mice with access to increasing concentrations of ethanol, bystander mice housed in the same room, and control…