Spinal sensory projection neuron responses to spinal cord stimulation are mediated by circuits beyond gate control.

Spinal Sensory Projection Neuron Responses to Spinal Cord Stimulation Are

Transmitting Pain and Itch Messages: A Contemporary View of the Spinal Cord Circuits that Generate Gate Control

The original formulation of Gate Control Theory (GCT) proposed that the perception of pain produced by spinal cord signaling to the brain depends on a balance of activity generated in large (nonnociceptive)- and small (nociceptive)-diameter primary afferent fibers. The theory proposed that activation of the large-diameter afferent "closes" the gate by engaging a superficial dorsal horn interneu...

Three-Dimensional Distribution of Sensory Stimulation-Evoked Neuronal Activity of Spinal Dorsal Horn Neurons Analyzed by In Vivo Calcium Imaging

The spinal dorsal horn comprises heterogeneous populations of interneurons and projection neurons, which form neuronal circuits crucial for processing of primary sensory information. Although electrophysiological analyses have uncovered sensory stimulation-evoked neuronal activity of various spinal dorsal horn neurons, monitoring these activities from large ensembles of neurons is needed to obt...

A Brainstem-Spinal Cord Inhibitory Circuit for Mechanical Pain Modulation by GABA and Enkephalins

Pain thresholds are, in part, set as a function of emotional and internal states by descending modulation of nociceptive transmission in the spinal cord. Neurons of the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) are thought to critically contribute to this process; however, the neural circuits and synaptic mechanisms by which distinct populations of RVM neurons facilitate or diminish pain remain elusiv...

Evaluation of Sensory Pathways in Spinal Cord by Comparison of fMRI Methodologies

Introduction: Today, clinicians and neuroscientists need to have a comprehensive survey of neurological pathologies and injuries. For the First-time, SEEP contrast and Spin-Echo pulse sequences was used for functional imaging of the Lumbar spinal cord. This method used by several research groups for Spinal cord mapping, but other researchers tried to improve BOLD fMRI to Spina...