Medullary control of nociceptive transmission : reciprocal dual communication w...

• Author(s): Almeida, Armando ; Almeida, Hugo Leite ; Tavares, Isaura
• Date: 2006
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/5947
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Pain modulation; Pain facilitation; Pain inhibition; Antinociception; Pronociception; Brainstem; DRt; VLMLat; LRt; Brain-spinal cord circuits; Spinal cord; Nociception
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

Control of pain perception, essential for organism surviving and recovery from disease, is exerted by higher brain centers integrating nociception with emotional and cognitive information and modulating the brainstem-spinal feedback loops that regulate spinal nociceptive transmission. Development of chronic pain deregulates the forebrain-brainstem-spinal pain control system, which leads to neuroplasticity and disruption of a balanced brain-spinal communication. Targets for impeding pain chronification are being developed using the manipulation of the cross talk between brain and dorsal horn, at both sites of the loop.