In article <3k4hcp$fsm at news.ycc.yale.edu> jnilsen at minerva.cis.yale.edu (jnilsen) writes:
>From: jnilsen at minerva.cis.yale.edu (jnilsen)
>Subject: Re: pain centers?
>Date: 14 Mar 1995 16:48:25 GMT
>Franklin Boyle (fb0m+ at andrew.cmu.edu) wrote:
>: Is there a particular location in the brain considered to
>: be a "pain center", or is the interpretation of signals
>: that originate from injury distributed? Also, is there
>: some pathway for such signals different from that traveled by more normal
>: sensory signals, and, whether or not it is separate, could
>: damage to such a pathway cause normal signals to be
>: interpreted as pain through some sort of modulation or
>: distortion?
>: Any replies would be greatly appreciated as would pointers to
>: the literature.
>: Thanks,
>: Frank Boyle
There are many brain nuclei and pathways involved with pain transmission and
processing. The Spinothalamic tract in the anterolateral quadrant of the
spinal cord is the textbook example of a "pain pathway" and links certain
neurons in the spinal cord with certain nuclei in the thalamus. If destroyed
relieves pain but eventually pain comes back through alternative pathways that
take on the roles of the STT channel. There are several alternatives and not
all are well known. Different pathways mediate the reflexes, the emotions,
the exact body localization and the modulation of the input that we all
experience an injury. All are very active areas of current research. Therefore
at every level of the spinal cord, brainstem and forebrain there are centers
more or less specialized in the processing of nociceptive information (this is
the word you should use for the sensory processing part, it becomes pain when
we "feel" it= make it conscious with displeasure attach to it, notice that
there can be nociception with no or little pain or pain with no nociception,
so they are not exactly the same and the distinction is important). For a
first reading look into any Neurobiology or Neuroscience textbook. For further
reading:
Pain Textbook. ed by Wall and Melzack 1994 Churchill Livingston.
Chapter 6 by Guilbaud, Bernard and Besson
Brain Areas involved in nociception and pain. pp 113-128.
Francisco J. Alvarez
Wright State University
