Responses of reticulospinal neurons in the lateral reticular nucleus area of the rat to cutaneous noxious and non-noxious stimulation |
| |
Authors: | R H Liu J S Tang Z L Hou H Jia |
| |
Affiliation: | Neurophysiology Laboratory, Xi'an Medical University, People's Republic of China. |
| |
Abstract: | Response properties of reticulospinal neurons in the lateral reticular nucleus (LRN) area to natural cutaneous stimulation were investigated systematically in 45 urethane-anesthetized rats by using extracellular recording techniques. A total of 64 neurons were tested with peripheral stimuli, of which 19 were responsive only to noxious stimuli; 7 responsive to both noxious and non-noxious stimuli; 4 responsive only to non-noxious stimuli; and 34 not responsive to any cutaneous stimuli. Both the noxious and non-noxious receptive fields were large and bilateral. Among the neurons responding to noxious stimuli, the majority (72%) was excited. This study provides evidence that some reticulospinal neurons in the rat LRN area are involved in the mechanisms of nociception. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|