scholarly journals Primary afferent depolarization and flexion reflexes produced by radiant heat stimulation of the skin

1971 ◽  
Vol 213 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Burke ◽  
P. Rudomin ◽  
L. Vyklický ◽  
F. E. Zajac
1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 850-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radan Čapek ◽  
Barbara Esplin

Effects of taurine and homotaurine (3-aminopropancsuIfonic acid), on excitability of primary afferents were compared with effects of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in spinal unanaesthesized cats. Homotaurine and GABA, administered intravenously or topically, produced a marked increase in afferent excitability. Homotaurine was about 10 times more potent than GABA. Taurine (up to 2 mmol/kg i.v., or 10 mM topically) did not produce a consistent change in afferent excitability. The effect of homotaurine was antagonized by bicuculline or picrotoxin in doses which suppressed the primary afferent depolarization, as indicated by an increase of afferent excitability, evoked by conditioning stimulation of an antagonistic muscle nerve. Semicarbazidc, an inhibitor of GABA synthesis, did not attenuate the homotaurine-induced excitability changes of afferents while suppressing entirely the primary afferent depolarization. These findings suggest that homotaurine exerts a direct GABA-like action on feline primary afferents.


1993 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1899-1910 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Quevedo ◽  
J. R. Eguibar ◽  
I. Jimenez ◽  
R. F. Schmidt ◽  
P. Rudomin

1. In the anesthetized and artificially ventilated cat, stimulation of the posterior articular nerve (PAN) with low strengths (1.2-1.4 x T) produced a small negative response (N1) in the cord dorsum of the lumbosacral spinal cord with a mean onset latency of 5.2 ms. Stronger stimuli (> 1.4 x T) produced two additional components (N2 and N3) with longer latencies (mean latencies 7.5 and 15.7 ms, respectively), usually followed by a slow positivity lasting 100-150 ms. With stimulus strengths above 10 x T there was in some experiments a delayed response (N4; mean latency 32 ms). 2. Activation of posterior knee joint nerve with single pulses and intensities producing N1 responses only, usually produced no dorsal root potentials (DRPs), or these were rather small. Stimulation with strengths producing N2 and N3 responses produced distinct DRPs. Trains of pulses were clearly more effective than single pulses in producing DRPs, even in the low-intensity range. 3. Cooling the thoracic spinal cord to block impulse conduction, increased the DRPs and the N3 responses produced by PAN stimulation without significantly affecting the N2 responses. Reversible spinalization also increased the DRPs produced by stimulation of cutaneous nerves. In contrast, the DRPs produced by stimulation of group I afferents from flexors were reduced. 4. Conditioning electrical stimulation of intermediate and high-threshold myelinated fibers in the PAN depressed the DRPs produced by stimulation of group I muscle and of cutaneous nerves. 5. Analysis of the intraspinal threshold changes of single Ia and Ib fibers has provided evidence that stimulation of intermediate and high threshold myelinated fibers in the posterior knee joint nerve inhibits the primary afferent depolarization (PAD) of Ia fibers, and may either produce PAD or inhibit the PAD in Ib fibers, in the same manner as stimulation of cutaneous nerves. In 7/16 group I fibers the inhibition of the PAD was increased during reversible spinalization. 6. The results obtained suggest that intermediate and high-threshold myelinated fibers in the PAN have the same actions on Ia and Ib fibers as intermediate and high-threshold cutaneous afferents and may therefore be considered as belonging to the same functional system. They further indicate that in anesthetized preparations the pathways mediating the PAD of group I fibers, as well as the pathways mediating the inhibition of the PAD, may be subjected to a descending control that is removed by spinalization.


2009 ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Domnick ◽  
Michael Hauck ◽  
Jürgen Lorenz ◽  
Andreas Engel ◽  
Kenneth Casey

1976 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1150-1159 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. Willis ◽  
R. Nunez ◽  
P. Rudomin

1. In cats anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital, recordings were made from dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells having a peripheral process in the gastrocnemius-soleus (GS) nerve. The GS nerve was left in continuity with the muscle to allow identification of group Ia and Ib fibers by responses of the receptors to muscle stretch and contraction. The central processes of the DRG cells were activated antidromically by stimulation within the spinal cord so that changes in the excitability of the fibers could be examined following conditioning volleys in muscle and cutaneous nerves. 2. Recordings were made from 44 DRG cells. Of these, 15 were group Ia and 9 group Ib afferents of the GS nerve. 3. Of 15 Ia fibers, 12 were activated antidromically by stimulation in the motor nucleus, but no Ib fibers were discharged by such stimulation. Ib fibers could be antidromically activated by stimulation in the intermediate nucleus. 4. The central processes of the Ia DRG cells had slower conduction velocities than did the peripheral processes. 5. The thresholds to electrical stimulation of the peripheral processes of Ia and Ib fibers of the GS nerve showed considerable overlap. 6. All of the Ia DRG cells tested showed an increased excitability following conditioning volleys in the biceps-semitendinosus (BST) nerve. The increase in excitability was produced by the largest fibers of the BST nerve. 7. Stimulation of the sural (SU) or superficial peroneal (SP) cutaneous nerves also increased the excitability of some Ia fibers. However, other Ia fibers were unaffected, and in two cases the excitability was reduced. 8. The excitability of group Ib fibers was increased by conditioning volleys in the BST, SU, or SP nerves. 9. It is concluded that cutaneous volleys produce a mixture of primary afferent depolarization and primary afferent hyperpolarization in Ia fibers of anesthetized cats. Such converse actions probably cancel in excitability tests using population responses. 10. The excitability of single Ia fibers is not stationary in excitability presumably reflect slow alterations within the central nervous system, perhaps related to spontaneous alterations in the level of tonically maintained primary afferent depolarization.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0245410
Author(s):  
Liya Y. Qiao ◽  
Jonathan Madar

The present study presents a non-surgical approach to assess colonic mechanical sensitivity in mice using colonometry, a technique in which colonic stretch-reflex contractions are measured by recording intracolonic pressures during saline infusion into the distal colon in a constant rate. Colonometrical recording has been used to assess colonic function in healthy individuals and patients with neurological disorders. Here we found that colonometry can also be implemented in mice, with an optimal saline infusion rate of 1.2 mL/h. Colonometrograms showed intermittent pressure rises that was caused by periodical colonic contractions. In the sceneries of colonic hypersensitivity that was generated post 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colonic inflammation, following chemogenetic activation of primary afferent neurons, or immediately after noxious stimulation of the colon by colorectal distension (CRD), the amplitude of intracolonic pressure (AICP) was markedly elevated which was accompanied by a faster pressure rising (ΔP/Δt). Colonic hypersensitivity-associated AICP elevation was a result of the enhanced strength of colonic stretch-reflex contraction which reflected the heightened activity of the colonic sensory reflex pathways. The increased value of ΔP/Δt in colonic hypersensitivity indicated a lower threshold of colonic mechanical sensation by which colonic stretch-reflex contraction was elicited by a smaller saline infusion volume during a shorter period of infusion time. Chemogenetic inhibition of primary afferent pathway that was governed by Nav1.8-expressing cells attenuated TNBS-induced up-regulations of AICP, ΔP/Δt, and colonic pain behavior in response to CRD. These findings support that colonometrograms can be used for analysis of colonic pain in mice.


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