FUNCTION OF FRONTAL CORTEX IN NOCICEPTION

疼痛是最常见的临床症状。 这是一个复杂的现象， 具有感官辨别成分和强烈的反应性， 动机情感维度 大脑皮层对疼痛的处理很差 明白 以前的研究表明，参与额外的 皮质区 腹外侧眶皮质（VLO）是主要的 丘脑内侧区的传出靶点最近被认为涉及 在伤害感受中，尤其是它的动机-情感成分。 我们 初步数据表明，一些VLO神经元确实对疼痛有反应， 刺激，他们的反应是最明显的，当紧张型的 刺激，其引起强烈的动机情感反应（例如，冷 加压器），应用。 本申请建议进一步研究VLO神经元可能在 在伤害感受和疼痛感知方面有很大的作用。 这些响应特性 神经元对各种刺激（包括强直性疼痛和慢性疼痛诱导） 通过坐骨神经结扎单神经病）将在常规 细胞外单个单位记录。 响应特征如下 全身施用临床上有用的药物吗啡和 阿米替林，或离子电渗应用吗啡，血清素， 去甲肾上腺素也将被检查。 为了比较，相同类型的 实验范例将用于S1的类似记录。 拟议研究的结果应提供两个，一个更好的 了解VLO如何参与伤害性感受并作为一种 为进一步研究皮质参与疼痛奠定了基础。

Pain is the most common clinical symptom. It is a complex phenomenon, having both a sensory-discriminative component, and a strong, reactive, motivational-affective dimension. Cortical processing of pain is poorly understood. Previous studies indicate an involvement of additional cortical regions. The ventrolateral orbital cortex (VLO) is the principal efferent target of medial thalamic areas recently suggested to be involved in nociception, especially its motivational-affective components. Our preliminary data indicate that some VLO neurons do respond to painful stimuli, and that their responses are most pronounced when tonic type of stimuli, which evoke a strong motivational-affective reaction (e.g., cold pressor), are applied. This application proposes to further investigate the role VLO neurons might have in nociception and pain perception. Response characteristics of these neurons to various stimuli (including tonic pain, and chronic pain induced by sciatic ligation mononeuropathy) will be assessed in conventional extracellular single-unit recordings. Response characteristics following systemic administration of clinically useful drugs morphine and amitriptyline, or iontophoretic application of morphine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, will also be examined. For comparison, the same type of experimental paradigms will be employed in similar recordings from S1. The results of the proposed study should provide both, a better understanding of how the VLO participates in nociception and serve as a basis for further investigations of cortical involvement in pain.