Pain in a Balance: Noxious Events Engage Opposing Processes That Concurrently Modulate Nociceptive Reactivity

Studies have shown that noxious cutaneous stimulation engages physiologically different antinociceptive systems to inhibit a spinal reflex, tail withdrawal from radiant heat. Two experiments are reported that examine the relationship between the inhibition of the tail-flick response and brain-mediat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral neuroscience 2004-12, Vol.118 (6), p.1418-1426
Main Authors: Crown, Eric D, Grau, James W, Meagher, Mary W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Afferent Pathways - drug effects
Analysis of Variance
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Anatomy & physiology
Animal
Animals
Aversive Stimulation
Behavior, Animal
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Electroshock - adverse effects
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Male
Naltrexone - administration & dosage
Narcotic Antagonists
Neural Inhibition - physiology
Neurology
Nociceptors - physiology
Pain
Pain - physiopathology
Pain - prevention & control
Pain Measurement - methods
Pain Perception
Pain Threshold - physiology
Physical Stimulation - methods
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Reaction Time
Reaction Time - drug effects
Reaction Time - physiology
Reflexes
Somesthesis and somesthetic pathways (proprioception, exteroception, nociception)
interoception
electrolocation. Sensory receptors
Spinal Cord - physiopathology
Studies
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Vocalization, Animal - drug effects
Vocalization, Animal - physiology
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Summary:Studies have shown that noxious cutaneous stimulation engages physiologically different antinociceptive systems to inhibit a spinal reflex, tail withdrawal from radiant heat. Two experiments are reported that examine the relationship between the inhibition of the tail-flick response and brain-mediated responses to nociception. The induction of a spinally mediated antinociception was accompanied by an increase in latency to vocalize to a noxious thermal stimulus, suggesting pain inhibition. Physiological manipulations that eliminated the inhibition of the tail-flick reflex restored vocalization to thermal stimulation and revealed a concurrent sensitization that generally heightened behavioral reactivity. The results suggest that net pain is regulated by 2 opposing processes, a selective inhibition of nociceptive signals within the spinal cord and a general sensitization that heightens stimulus processing.
ISSN:0735-7044
1939-0084
DOI:10.1037/0735-7044.118.6.1418