Emotional and cognitive impairments in experimental neuropathies

Chronic pain patients frequently manifest anxiety, depression and cognitive impairments. The causality relation between pain and the emergence of these phenotypes is not entirely understood. The discovery of abnormal emotional behaviors and cognitive impairments in animal models of chronic pain prompted a number of studies aiming to understand how pain triggers this set of phenotypes and ultimately to provide better therapeutical approaches. However, progress in the field has been hampered by conflicting data most probably resulting from heterogeneous experimental approaches. We briefly review some of these works and discuss how experimental factors like pain duration, pain model or even pain location can contribute to the emergence of emotional and cognitive dysfunction in chronic pain conditions.