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， 既有感官辨别成分的，又有强烈的、反应性的、 激励-情感维度。大脑皮层对疼痛的处理能力很差 明白了。先前的研究表明，更多的 皮质区域。腹外侧眶皮质(VLO)是主要的 最近建议参与的丘脑内侧区传出靶点 伤害性感受，尤其是其动机-情感成分。我们的 初步数据表明，一些VLO神经元确实对疼痛有反应 他们的反应是最明显的当补药类型的 刺激，引起强烈的动机-情感反应(例如，冷 压力器)，应用。 这项申请建议进一步研究VLO神经元可能扮演的角色 在伤害感和痛觉方面有。它们的响应特性 神经元对各种刺激(包括紧张性疼痛和慢性疼痛)的反应 通过坐骨神经结扎)将在传统的 细胞外的单单元录音。以下是响应特征 临床有用药物吗啡和阿司匹林的全身给药 阿米替林，或离子导入应用吗啡，5-羟色胺，和 去甲肾上腺素，也将被检测。作为比较，相同类型的 实验范式将被用于从第一节开始的类似录音中。 拟议的研究结果应该提供这两个更好的 了解VLO如何参与伤害性感受并作为 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.