title: Afferent pain pathways: a neuroanatomical review.
abstract: Painful experience is a complex entity made up of sensory, affective, motivational and cognitive dimensions. The neural mechanisms involved in pain perception acts in a serial and a parallel way, discriminating and locating the original stimulus and also integrating the affective feeling, involved in a special situation, with previous memories. This review examines the concepts of nociception, acute and chronic pain, and also describes the afferent pathways involved in reception, segmental processing and encephalic projection of pain stimulus. The interaction model of the cerebral cortex areas and their functional characteristics are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychobiology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Napoleão de Barros, 925. Vila Clementino, 04024-002, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. pra.c@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Tatiana F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Suely
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roizenblatt
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tufik
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology