Spinal administration of nicotinic agonists can produce both hyperalgesic and analgesic effects in vivo. The cellular mechanisms underlying these behavioral phenomena are not understood. As a possible explanation for nicotinic hyperalgesia, we tested whether nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) could enhance excitatory transmission onto spinal cord dorsal horn neurons. Whole-cell patch-cl...

BACKGROUND Although isoflurane, a volatile anesthetic, can block the motor response to noxious stimulation (immobility and analgesia) and suppress autonomic responsiveness, how it exerts these effects at the neuronal level in the spinal cord is not fully understood. METHODS The effects of a clinically relevant concentration (1 rat minimum alveolar concentration [MAC]) of isoflurane on electri...

In vitro slice preparations of CNS tissue are invaluable for studying neuronal function. However, up to now, slice protocols for adult mammal spinal motoneurons--the final common pathway for motor behaviors--have been available for only limited portions of the spinal cord. In most cases, these preparations have not been productive due to the poor viability of motoneurons in vitro. This report d...

BACKGROUND Although intrathecal administration of midazolam, a water-soluble imidazobenzodiazepine derivative, has been found to produce analgesia, how it exerts this effect at the neuronal level in the spinal cord is not fully understood. METHODS The effects of midazolam on electrically evoked and spontaneous excitatory transmission were examined in lamina II neurons of adult rat spinal cord...

Glutamate (Glu) is involved in excitatory neurotransmission and nociception and plays an essential role in relaying noxious stimuli in the spinal cord. Intrathecal or epidural injection of 2-adrenergic agonists produces potent antinociceptive effects, alters spinal neurotransmitter release, and effectively treats acute nociceptive and chronic neuropathic pain. Although it is generally believed ...

in worldwide, an estimated 40 cases per 1 million people reported with new spinal cord injuries each year. people with spinal cord injuries suffer from severe physical, psychological, social and economic problems. damaged or lost cells can't be replaced when the spinal cord is injured; therefore, its function becomes disturbed permanently. despite the significant advances in the understand...

Neurological outcomes following spinal cord injury (SCI) are currently difficult to predict. While the initial American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade can give an estimate o...

experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (eae), a demyelinating disease induced in the animals parallels multiple sclerosis in human in several aspects, provides a useful model to investigate multiple sclerosis. in this study, we have therefore used this model to study functions of nerve growth factor (ngf) in eae. ngf with considerable effects on neuron survival, proliferation and differentiati...

the prevalence of spinal cord injury (sci) is about 2.5 million in the worldwide and more than 130,000 new injuries reported each year. regeneration in the cns versus the pns is very different from the other tissues and many factors can prevent regeneration in pns and specially cns. previous researches demonstrated that regeneration of cns can inhibit by inhibitory molecules and glial scar. the...