An attention-demanding hunting paradigm engages the superior colliculus–zona incerta circuit mediating analgesia in male mice

Attention distraction mitigates pain, yet its neural basis remains elusive. We established cricket hunting as an attention-demanding paradigm that alleviates acute and chronic pain in male mice. Activity tagging revealed that cricket hunting activated a subset of glutamatergic neurons in the superior colliculus (SC). Selective stimulation of these hunting-activated neurons alleviated chronic hyperalgesia, primarily mediated by their projections to the zona incerta (ZI). Notably, repeated engagement, either through the hunting paradigm or by repeatedly activating hunting-activated SC-ZI projections, induced sustained analgesia (lasting at least 6 hours), linked to potentiated glutamatergic inputs to ZI GABAergic neurons. Furthermore, SC-ZI projections originating from SC neurons expressing tachykinin precursor 1 (Tac1) selectively elevated neuropathic pain thresholds via substance P release and neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor-dependent excitatory synaptic transmission onto ZI GABAergic neurons. Together, we show that a specific SC-ZI circuit drives attention-induced analgesia, highlighting the SC Tac1 -ZI pathway as a therapeutic target for chronic pain.