Noxious and non-noxious responses in the medial thalamus of the rat.
Single-cell experiments were undertaken to localize and characterize the medial thalamic (MT) neurons which respond to noxious and non-noxious input in the rat. The observations demonstrated that: (1) 61 and 42% of MT neurons respond to noxious (Nox) and non-noxious (NN) stimulation, respectively; (2) MT neurons exhibit 4 cell types according to their pattern of response; Type A units were excited exclusively by Nox stimulation; Type B units were excited exclusively by NN stimulation; Type C units were excited by both (Nox and NN) stimulation, and Type D units exhibited decreases in firing rate following both stimulation modalities; (3) neurons of the parafascicularis nucleus exhibit more noxious responses (Type A units) than other medial thalamic areas.
Reyes-Vazquez
C
C
Departamento de Farmacologia, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Mexico, Mexico, DF.
Prieto-Gomez
B
B
Dafny
N
N
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology*