Primary afferent depolarization of C fibres in the spinal cord of the cat.
The excitability of primary afferent terminals of cutaneous C fibres was tested in the spinal cord of decerebrated cats. C fibre terminal excitability was decreased in the spinal state, and increased by conditioning volleys that activated only A fibres of another cutaneous nerve and by stimulating hair mechanically. It is suggested that C fibre input and therefore nociceptive information to the central nervous system is susceptible to presynaptic control by segmental and suprasegmental mechanisms.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D003655:Decerebrate State; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology*