CNS activation maps in awake rats exposed to thermal stimuli to the dorsum of the hindpaw

►This is one of the first reports of imaging pain in awake rodents and demonstrates a rich and complex activation pattern not observed before. ►The results indicate the possibility to segregate activation across different pathways involved in pain processing such sensory/discriminative, affective/emotional, autonomic, and descending control. ►We provide imaging and analysis strategies to perform these experiments.