BIOLOGY 2C03 Lecture Notes - Spinothalamic Tract, Lateral Funiculus, Thalamus
28 Jan 2013
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Some stuff in notes arbitrarily hacked out in preference for material covered in lecture: basic properties of nociception. Pain is like other sensory modalities, but it is unpleasant (affective component) and intense pain as an invariant negative response. There are three types of pain: cutaneous pricking, cutaneous burning, and deep visceral, with differing characteristics. Hyperalgesia is a lowering of pain threshold in response to tissue injury. Primary hyperalgesia is located at site of injury, and is due to ad. Secondary hyperalgesia is located in tissue around the injury, and includes referred pain. Central sensitization (increased responsiveness of central pain neurons to input) plays a role in fibers both types of hyperalgesia. Neuropathic pain results from an injury to the parts of the nervous system that determine pain. Thermal threshold for pain is constant (45 c), but mechanical threshold is variable. Inflammation stimulates and sensitizes area to pain, a protective mechanism.
