Organization of the Spinothalamic Tract as a Relay for Cardiopulmonary Sympathetic Afferent Fiber Activity

Foreman, Robert D.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-74058-9_1

Cited by 36 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 215 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Similarly, Foreman (1989) has shown that electrical stimulation of cardiopulmonary vagal afferents leads to depression of impulse transmission in spinothalamic neurons that are involved in cardiac nociception. In our behavioral experiments this central effect of vagal activity is normally not seen after vagotomy, at least in part because it is masked by the powerf ul effect of the endocrine signal released from the adrenal medulla.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Vagotomy-Induced Enhancement of Mechanical Hyperalgesia in the Rat Is Sympathoadrenal-Mediated

et al. 1998

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have recently shown that subdiaphragmatic vagotomy enhances bradykinin-induced hyperalgesic behavior and decreases baseline paw withdrawal threshold to mechanical stimulation of the hindpaw skin in rats by a peripheral mechanism. To elucidate the underlying mechanism, we studied whether lesions of efferent neuroendocrine pathways could prevent or reverse the potentiating effect of vagotomy. In groups of shamvagotomized or vagotomized rats, we surgically removed or denervated the adrenal medulla. Bradykinin was injected intradermally into the skin of the dorsal surface of the rat hindpaw. Threshold of paw withdrawal to mechanical stimulation of the skin was measured.Vagotomy induced a decrease in mechanical baseline paw withdrawal threshold and enhancement of bradykinin-induced mechanical hyperalgesic behavior, both of which were maintained over the 5 week testing period. Adrenal enucleation or denervation of the adrenal gland by suprarenal ganglionectomy prevented vagotomy-induced decrease in baseline paw withdrawal threshold and enhancement of bradykinin-induced hyperalgesia. In animals that had a demonstrated decrease in baseline paw withdrawal threshold and enhancement of bradykinin-induced hyperalgesia 2 weeks after vagotomy, additional denervation of the adrenal medulla significantly reversed these effects over a 3 week period.These results imply that both the decrease in baseline paw withdrawal threshold and enhancement of bradykinin-induced hyperalgesic behavior after vagotomy are dependent on a hormonal signal released from the adrenal medulla and suggest a novel mechanism of sensitization of cutaneous nociceptors. Key words: bradykinin; hyperalgesia; nociception; pain; sympathoadrenal system; vagusIn the rat, activity in vagal afferents from abdominal organs modulates transmission of nociceptive impulses in the spinal cord and probably elsewhere in the C NS and also affects experimental pain behavior Randich and Gebhart, 1992; Watkins and Maier, 1995a,b). Recently, we have shown that bradykinin (BK)-induced mechanical cutaneous hyperalgesia is significantly enhanced after subdiaphragmatic vagotomy. A similar effect was seen after cutting the celiac branches of the abdominal vagus nerve but not after cutting only its gastric and hepatic branches. Furthermore, baseline mechanical paw withdrawal threshold decreased after vagotomy. The enhanced mechanical hyperalgesia produced by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy was specific for hyperalgesia induced by BK . Hyperalgesia induced by the direct-acting hyperalgesic agent prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) was not affected by vagotomy (K hasar et al., 1997). These findings argue that enhancement of BK-induced mechanical hyperalgesia and decrease in baseline mechanical paw withdrawal threshold after abdominal vagotomy are produced by a peripheral mechanism. However, as the experimental results reported in this manuscript show, we do not exclude a central component in enhancement of BK-induced hyperalgesia after vagotomy, as predicted by the work of Gebhart and Randich (1992)...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Vagotomy-Induced Enhancement of Mechanical Hyperalgesia in the Rat Is Sympathoadrenal-Mediated

et al. 1998

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Information is sent from the medial thalamus to the insular cortex, amygdala, and cingulate gyrus, where motivational-affective components of pain, including autonomic adjustments, occur. This pathway is called the spinothalamic tract (STT) and, although not the only pain pathway, it is the main and most studied system that transmits visceral sympathetic afferent pain information to the brain 44 . Afferent fibers in the vagus nerve participate in the modulation of pain partly by modulating the flow of pain signals in the STT.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-pharmacological Intervention for Chronic Pain in Veterans: A Pilot Study of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback

Berry

Chapple

Ginsberg

et al. 2014

Glob Adv Health Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective:Chronic pain is an emotionally and physically debilitating form of pain that activates the body's stress response and over time can result in lowered heart rate variability (HRV) power, which is associated with reduced resiliency and lower self-regulatory capacity. This pilot project was intended to determine the effectiveness of HRV coherence biofeedback (HRVCB) as a pain and stress management intervention for veterans with chronic pain and to estimate the effect sizes. It was hypothesized that HRVCB will increase parasympathetic activity resulting in higher HRV coherence measured as power and decrease self-reported pain symptoms in chronic pain patients.Study design:Fourteen veterans receiving treatment for chronic pain were enrolled in the pre-post intervention study. They were randomly assigned, with 8 subjects enrolled in the treatment group and 6 in the control group. The treatment group received biofeedback intervention plus standard care, and the other group received standard care only. The treatment group received four HRVCB training sessions as the intervention.Measures:Pre-post measurements of HRV amplitude, HRV power spectrum variables, cardiac coherence, and self-ratings of perceived pain, stress, negative emotions, and physical activity limitation were made for both treatment and control groups.Results:The mean pain severity for all subjects at baseline, using the self-scored Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), was 26.71 (SD=4.46; range=21–35) indicating a moderate to severe perceived pain level across the study subjects. There was no significant difference between the treatment and control groups at baseline on any of the measures. Post-HRVCB, the treatment group was significantly higher on coherence (P=.01) and lower (P=.02) on pain ratings than the control group. The treatment group showed marked and statistically significant (1-tailed) increases over the baseline in coherence ratio (191%, P=.04) and marked, significant (1-tailed) reduction in pain ratings (36%, P<.001), stress perception (16%, P=.02), negative emotions (49%, P<.001), and physical activity limitation (42%, P<.001). Significant between-group effects on all measures were found when pre-training values were used as covariates.Conclusions:HRVCB intervention was effective in increasing HRV coherence measured as power in the upper range of the LF band and reduced perceived pain, stress, negative emotions, and physical activity limitation in veterans suffering from chronic pain. HRVCB shows promise as an effective non-pharmacological intervention to support standard treatments for chronic pain.

show abstract

“…Sekundärneurons im NTS, die von diesen cardialen Afferenzen aktiviert werden projizieren in die oberen Cervicalsegmente und kön-nen spino-thalamische Neurone im Hinterhorn aktivieren. Diese Traktneurone erhalten ebenso synaptische Eingänge von thorakalen viszeralen Afferenzen des Herzens, die über mehrere Segmente zu den oberen Cervicalsegmenten projizieren und von tiefen somatischen und kutanen Afferenzen des gleichen Segmentes und benachbarter Segmente [38a].Vagale Afferenzen sind vermutlich für die endogene Kontrolle der nozizeptiven Impulsübertragung auf der Ebene des Rückenmarks wichtig; deshalb sind sie wahrscheinlich auch in die zentrale Kontrolle von viszeralen Schmerzen integriert [38,42,65,66,97]. Die vielfälti-gen Funktionen vagaler viszeraler Afferenzen im Rahmen von Organregulationen sind in verschiedenen Arbeiten [26,29,45,57,97,98] …”

Section: Spinale Und Vagale Viszerale Afferenzenunclassified

Physiologie und Pathophysiologie viszeraler Schmerzen

Jänig¹,

Häbler

2002

Der Schmerz

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Visceral pain is diffusely localized, referred to deep somatic tissues, skin and viscera, frequently not correlated with an actual trauma, commonly correlated with strong negative affective reactions and accompanied by strong protective autonomic and motor reactions. It is correlated with the excitation of spinal (thoraco-lumbar, sacral) visceral afferents and (with a few exceptions) not with the excitation of vagal afferents. Spinal visceral afferents are polymodal and can be excited by physical and chemical stimuli. All groups of visceral afferents can be sensitized (e.g.by inflammation). Normally silent (mechanically insensitive) visceral afferents are recruited by inflammation. Individual visceral afferent neurons project in laminae I and V of the dorsal horn over several segments, medio-lateral over the entire width of the dorsal horn and to the contralateral side. Their activity is synaptically transmitted, in these and deeper laminae, to viscero-somatic convergent neurons which receive additional afferent synaptic input from skin and deep somatic tissues of the corresponding dermatomes,myotomes and sclerotomes. The mechanism of sensitization of viscerosomatic convergent neurons (central sensitization) during sensitization of spinal visceral afferents is unclear.Viscero-somatic tract neurons project to lower and upper brain stem,hypothalamus and via the thalamus to various cortex areas. Visceral nociception and pain is presumably (together with other visceral sensations and homeostatic regulations of autonomic body functions) primarily represented in the insula in the context of interoception. The insula obtains its main peripheral afferent input from lamina I neurons via the Nucleus ventromedialis posterior of the thalamus. The transmission of visceral impulses in the spinal cord is modulated by the endogenous control systems in the brain stem which are in turn under the control of cortex and limbic system.

show abstract

Organization of the Spinothalamic Tract as a Relay for Cardiopulmonary Sympathetic Afferent Fiber Activity

Cited by 36 publications

References 215 publications

Vagotomy-Induced Enhancement of Mechanical Hyperalgesia in the Rat Is Sympathoadrenal-Mediated

Vagotomy-Induced Enhancement of Mechanical Hyperalgesia in the Rat Is Sympathoadrenal-Mediated

Non-pharmacological Intervention for Chronic Pain in Veterans: A Pilot Study of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback

Physiologie und Pathophysiologie viszeraler Schmerzen

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About