Cerebellar neurocan gene expression is a common pathogenic factor of trigeminal neuralgia and depression
Zhangying Zeng, Jianwei Jiang, Xuemei Wu, Xinyue Liao, Yiqian Wang, Li Zhao, Feng Wang, Shitao Rao, Daoshu Luo · 2025
Read Cerebellar neurocan gene expression is a common pathogenic factor of trigeminal neuralgia and depression by Zhangying Zeng, Jianwei Jiang, Xuemei Wu, Xinyue Liao, Yiqian Wang, Li Zhao, Feng Wang, Shitao Rao, Daoshu Luo (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-12849457.txt.
Description
Zhangying Zeng and co-authors published a 2025 study on a shared root of two conditions: severe facial pain and depression. The pain condition brings sudden, shock-like jolts in the face. The two problems often appear together and make each other worse. Yet their shared biology was unclear.
The team combined brain imaging with full gene data to hunt for common risk factors. They found gene variants tied to both conditions. One gene, neurocan, stood out, and it was most active in the cerebellum, a structure at the back of the brain. Scans showed differences in brain shape and activity in patients, mostly in a few regions including the cerebellum. Tests in animals backed the finding: higher levels of the gene there tracked with the start of both conditions. The authors name this gene pathway as a shared driver worth further study.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Zhangying Zeng, Jianwei Jiang, Xuemei Wu, Xinyue Liao, Yiqian Wang, Li Zhao, Feng Wang, Shitao Rao, Daoshu Luo |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 54 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |