title: Neuronal responses to cutaneous electrical and noxious mechanical stimuli in the nucleus reticularis thalami of the rat.
abstract: Responses of 81 neurons accurately localized in the nucleus reticularis thalami (RT) of moderately anesthetized rats were tested for response to noxious and non-noxious cutaneous stimuli. Spontaneous firing rates were very high (between 18 and 60 Hz) and regular. Non-noxious stimuli did not modify the activity of RT neurons. By contrast, in 62/81 RT neurons, noxious cutaneous mechanical stimuli induced a strong and short-latency depression of firing, irrespective of the location of the stimulus on the body surface. Intense (> 3 mA) transcutaneous electrical stimulation also elicited long-lasting depressions of the firing in most cases. The hypothesis of a possible role of the RT nucleus in inhibitory controls exerted upon noxious messages relayed in the thalamic ventrobasal nucleus is discussed.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012867:Skin / Q000294:innervation*; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*