Otmane Bouchatta

Principal Research Engineer

Postdoctoral scientist interested in the sensory physiology of pain in health and disease.

Sensation of human pain: Perception and afferent coding

In my PhD, I have been investigating the mechanisms underlying the comorbidity between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and pain. I used behavioral approaches, morphological analysis and in vivo electrophysiology combined with optogenetics in mice.
Currently, I aim to decipher how individual sensory afferents encode painful stimuli by using microneurography (in vivo electrophysiology) and psychophysics in humans.

Publications

Key publications

Bouchatta O, Aby F, Sifeddine W, Bouali-Benazzouz R, Brochoire L, Manouze H, Fossat P, Ba-M’Hamed S, Bennis M, Landry M (2022). Pain hypersensitivity in a pharmacological mouse model of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(30): e2114094119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2114094119.
Aby F, Lorenzo LE, Grivet Z, Bouali-Benazzouz R, Martin H, Valerio S, Whitestone S, Isabel D, Idi W, Bouchatta O, De Deurwaerdere P, Godin AG, Herry C, Fioramonti X, Landry M, De Koninck Y and Fossat P (2022). Switch of serotonergic descending inhibition into facilitation by a spinal chloride imbalance in neuropathic pain. Science Advances, 8(30): eabo0689. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abo0689.

2026

Sarah Bou Sader Nehme, Sandra Sanchez-Sarasua, Mari-Carmen Medrano, Otmane Bouchatta, Tania Bitar, Abbas Alameddine, Laurent Galineau, Paul Brunault, Nora Kerekes, Ana-Maria Sanchez-Perez, Walid Hleihel, Marc Landry (2026)

Correction: Animal models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Diversity and validity (vol 78, 100108, 2026) Pharmacological Reviews, Vol. 78, Article 100123 (Article in journal)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmr.2026.100123

Otmane Bouchatta, Oumie Thorell, Andrew G. Marshall, Merat Rezaei, Ahmed Barakat, Sarah Mcintyre, Gregory J. Gerling, David A. Mahns, Håkan Olausson, Saad Nagi (2026)

Coding of mechanical pain by myelinated and unmyelinated nociceptors in human hairy skin Pain Reports, Vol. 11, Article e1398 (Article in journal)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PR9.0000000000001398

Animal models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Diversity and validity Pharmacological Reviews, Vol. 78, Article 100108 (Article, review/survey)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmr.2025.100108

2025

Mathilde R. Israel, Richard Berwick, Nisha Vastani, Qin Zheng, Warren Moore, Margot Maurer, Clive Gentry, Anne Marshall, Haoyue Sun, Harvey Neiland, James P. Dunham, Otmane Bouchatta, Katy Plant, Saad Nagi, Håkan Olausson, Uazman Alam, Xinzhong Dong, Stuart Bevan, Andrew Marshall, Andreas Goebel, David A. Andersson (2025)

Aß low threshold mechanoreceptors contribute to sensory abnormalities in fibromyalgia Brain, Vol. 148, p. 4016-4029 (Article in journal)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf321

Warren Moore, Johan Nikesjö, Otmane Bouchatta, Adarsh D. Makdani, Pierre Hakizimana, Mikael Rousson, Basil Duvernoy, Sarah Mcintyre, Laura Johanna Pehkonen, Anders Fridberger, Francis McGlone, Håkan Olausson, Saad Nagi, Andrew Marshall (2025)

Robust coupling between the C-tactile afferent and the hair follicle in humans Journal of Physiology, Vol. 603, p. 4593-4608 (Article in journal)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1113/JP287706

Research

a coarse brush is applied to the back of the hand

The Nagi Lab

Pain in the ultrafast lane. We are interested in better understanding the peripheral nervous system’s role in acute and persistent pain using microneurography.

Organisation

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Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience - CSAN

Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience (CSAN) integrates knowledge and methodology from different areas of basic and clinical neuroscience.

Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV)

What characterizes the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV) is the wide breadth of research and education. BKV is one of the largest departments at LiU with affiliation mainly to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

News

A researcher is working together with a test subject.

Our sense of touch consists of 16 unique types of nerve cells

No less than 16 different types of nerve cells have been identified by scientists in a new study on the human sense of touch. Comparisons between humans, mice and macaques show both similarities and significant differences.