title: Morphological evidence for the activation of descending modulatory control by nociceptive afferent pathways: an immunocytochemical study.
abstract: Immunocytochemical technique was used to compare the content of substance P (SP), Met-enkephalin (Met-Enk) and neurotensin (NT) on two sides of the lumbar dorsal horn of rats in which the unilateral dorsolateral funiculus was transected while formalin (0.2 ml, 5%) was injected equally into two hindpaws. The results showed that the SP-like immunoreactivity (SP-LI) and Met-Enk-LI were significantly higher and the NT-LI was significantly lower in the superficial laminae of dorsal horn on the side ipsilateral to the intact DLF than that on the opposite side, implying that peripheral noxious inputs can activate the supraspinal descending inhibitory systems which in turn modulate the transmission of noxious message at the spinal level by changing the activities of related peptidergic neurons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Shanxi Medical College, Taiyuan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: R X
authors.initials: RX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Z P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Qiao
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000818:Animals; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000494:pharmacology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009496:Neurotensin / Q000378:metabolism; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013373:Substance P / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005557:Formaldehyde; D013373:Substance P; D009496:Neurotensin; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine