Neuropathic pain is a chronic condition representing a significant burden for patients, society, and healthcare systems. The prevalence of neuropathic pain in the general population has been estimated at 7-8% and is expected to increase in the future. Neuropathic pain differs from nociceptive pain and requires a different therapeutic approach; and the management of neuropathic pain is complicat...

Neuropathic pain and epileptic seizures bear several similarities, among them is the response to anticonvulsant drugs. It has therefore been hypothesized that epileptiform activity of nociceptive spinal dorsal horn neurons may contribute to paroxysmal forms of neuropathic pain. We used patch-clamp and field potential recordings from young rat spinal cord slices to test if nociceptive dorsal hor...

Children represent a vulnerable population in which management of nociceptive pain is complex. Drug responses in children differ from adults due to age-related differences. Moreover, therapeutic choices are limited by the lack of indication for a number of analgesic drugs due to the challenge of conducting clinical trials in children. Furthermore the assessment of efficacy as well as tolerance ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of painful electrical stimuli applied to intra-oral tissues around the teeth on the neck muscle activity in healthy humans. METHODS Electromyographic (EMG) responses of the dorsal neck muscles evoked by intra-oral electrical stimulation were recorded before and after local anesthesia to the stimulus site in 17 healthy volunteers. RESULTS Inhibition of dor...

We recently demonstrated that application of mustard oil (MO), a small-fiber excitant and inflammatory irritant, to the rat maxillary molar tooth pulp induces significant and prolonged increases in jaw muscle electromyographic (EMG) activity that are suggestive of central neuroplasticity. Because small-fiber afferents, including pulp afferents, access nociceptive neurons in trigeminal (V) subnu...

Pain can involuntarily capture attention and disrupt pain-unrelated cognitive activities. The brain mechanisms of these effects were explored by laser- and visual-evoked potentials. Consecutive nociceptive laser stimuli and visual stimuli were delivered in pairs. Subjects were instructed to ignore nociceptive stimuli while performing a task on visual targets. Because involuntary attention is pa...

Introduction: the methanolic extracts and its different partitioning fractions of leaves of Clerodendrum indicum were evaluated for their anti-nociceptive, anti-diarrheal and in vitro antimicrobial activities. Methods: the anti-nociceptive activity was evaluated using the acetic acid-induced writhing test in mice; the anti-diarrheal activity was investigated by the effect of extracts on castor ...

introduction: although formalin-induced activity in primary afferent fibers and spinal dorsal ‎horn is well described, the midbrain neural basis underlying each phase of behavior in ‎formalin test has not been clarified. the present study was designed to investigate the nucleus ‎cuneiformis (cnf)‎‏ ‏neuronal responses during two phases after subcutaneous injection of ‎formalin into the hind paw...

We have previously shown that the balance of electrically evoked descending brainstem control of spinal nociceptive reflexes undergoes a switch from excitation to inhibition in preadolescent rats. Here we show that the same developmental switch occurs when μ-opioid receptor agonists are microinjected into the rostroventral medulla (RVM). Microinjections of the μ-opioid receptor agonist [D-Ala(2...