Imaging studies have more recently documented this lateralization in the context of chronic pain, specifically in the amygdala, where emotional processing also occurs. While in many cases there’s redundancy, there can also be specialization that evolves.”Kolber’s team conducted its study on a mouse model of bladder pain. When the researchers introduced the protein calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) to the animals’ amygdalae, they found that CGRP administered in the right side increased behavioral signs of bladder pain, but when administered in the left side, it decreased painlike behavior in the bladder. “CGRP is driving pain on the right side and reducing pain on the left.”Lead author Dr. Heather Allen, a UT Dallas visiting scholar and a postdoctoral associate at New York University, said that lateralization is often ignored in pain research. “We are also investigating these findings in other pain models to evaluate if this phenomenon is isolated to bladder pain or whether it extends to other types of pain.