title: A possible interface between autonomic function and pain control: opioid analgesia and the nucleus tractus solitarius.
abstract: Opioid peptides appear to be important neurochemical mediators in central nervous system mechanisms of analgesia, cardiovascular control, and many endocrinological responses to stress. The nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), a brain region expressing all 3 opioid peptide families, is also associated with regulation of autonomic and endocrine functions. We now report that electrical stimulation of the NTS causes pronounced analgesia in rats. This analgesia appears to involve opioids and is pharmacologically dissociable from the hemodynamic changes elicited by NTS stimulation. These results suggest the NTS as a neural substrate for inter-relationships between stress, cardiovascular function, alterations in respiration, and pain sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baldrighi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akil
mesh_terms: D000698:Analgesia; D000818:Animals; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009270:Naloxone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D014294:Trimethaphan / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D014665:Vasodilator Agents; D009270:Naloxone; D014294:Trimethaphan; C017774:trimethaphan camsylate