Spinothalamic cell activity in the monkey during intense nociceptive stimulation: intra-arterial injection of bradykinin into the limbs.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J M Besson.
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The changes in firing rate of mesencephalic reticular units after intra-arterial injection into the limbs of a potent nociceptive agent, bradykinin, were studied in cats (unanesthetized, immobilized with flaxedil and hyperventilated). 30 per cent of the d35 studied cells were affected, 56 per cent were excited, 23 per cent inhibited and 5 per cent had mixed effects. Among the 75 excited cells, the activation of 16 of them seemed to related to the arousa- processes (group A); for 56 cells the increase seemed dire-tly dependent on the nociceptive stimulation itself (group B). The changes of firing rate were repruducible; their latencies and durations were of the same order as the latencies and duration of the nociceptive reactions and painful sensation s, which have been obtained in animals and men after bradykinin injections. The modifications induced by bradykinin administration were suppressed by Ketamin and Thiopental.
In the cat, electrical stimulation of the inferior central nucleus of the raphe induces a powerful analgesia. This stimulation totally suppresses the behavioural reactions elicited by strong pinches applied to the tail or to the four limbs; it strongly modifies the threshold of the jaw opening reflex obtained by tooth pulp stimulation and considerably affects the behavioural reactions elicited by continuing such stimulation. The results can be considered as evidence that the mechanism of analgesia from the inferior raphe nucleus is similar to that already described in the dorsal raphe nucleus. The analgesia obtained by stimulation of raphe nuclei seems to be sustained by serotoninergic mechanisms and relationships between these are discussed. In preliminary experiments, analgesia induced by CI stimulation has been suppressed by administration of naloxone, a specific opiate antagonist.
1. In order to study descending influences of the brain stem upon the transmission of nociceptive messages at the spinal level, the activities of lumbar lamina V dorsal horn cells, induced by intra-arterial injection of brandykinin into the limbs, were recorded in unanaesthetized cats in both decerebrate and temporary spinal states (reversible cold block applied at the thoracic level). 2. In the decerebrate state, the intra-arterial injection of bradykinin had little or no effect. 3. During the reversible spinalization, the effects of bradykinin were revealed or considerably enhanced. As described in a previous study, in the C1-transected cat, three types of effects were encountered: excitatory, inhibiitory and mixed (inhibitory-excitatory). 4. These modifications observed after spinalization were generally associated with a large increase of the spontaneous firing rate. 5. These results emphasize, in the decerebrate cat, the importance of descending inhibitory controls exerted by the brain stem upon the transmission of nonciceptive messages at the spinal cord level.
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1. Interneurones presenting heterotopic and heterosensory convergence have been identified in laminae VI-VII of the lumbar dorsal horn in the cat. Stimulation of the hind limbs sometimes induced a bimodal response, but we considered only the late convergent discharge.2. The fact that response latencies are longer to hind limb than to forelimb stimulation at this level suggests the intervention of a supraspinal loop in the activation of spinal convergent units. This hypothesis is supported by the relationship between the excitability of supraspinal structures and the discharge intensity of convergent cells as well as by the absence of long latency responses in the spinal preparation.3. Electrophysiological and pharmacological evidence discloses a strong relationship between convergent unit discharges and the occurrence of dorsal root potentials to cortical, heterosegmental and heterosensory stimulation.4. It is suggested that convergent units receive information of supraspinal origin and exert control over sensory input to the cord via primary afferent depolarization.
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