PMID: 3760925Aug 1, 1986Paper

Temporal features of the responses of primate spinothalamic neurons to noxious thermal stimulation of hairy and glabrous skin

Journal of Neurophysiology
D J SurmeierW D Willis

Abstract

Extracellular recordings were made from 81 primate spinothalamic (STT) neurons in the L7-S1 segments of the spinal cord. The majority of the sample was recorded from within laminae IV-V. The temporal features of the responses to noxious thermal stimulation of glabrous and hairy skin were studied in an attempt to determine whether natural groupings of STT neurons could be identified on the basis of response time course alone and whether these groups were skin type dependent. The relationship between these groups and those based on static response features (37) was also explored in an attempt to define more fully their potential functional roles. In most STT neurons, the thermally evoked responses typically appeared to have two response components, particularly at stimulus temperatures above 49 degrees C. The first response phase typically peaked within 1-12 s of stimulus onset and then adapted. The second phase slowly rose to a maximum, typically 15-30 s following stimulus onset. The existence of natural groupings of STT neurons based upon the characteristics of these two response components was assessed with a k-means cluster analysis. On the basis of the onset and early peak latencies, two well-defined short and long latency n...Continue Reading

Citations

Jan 1, 1988·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·W D Willis
Jan 1, 1997·Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology : Official Publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society·W D Willis, K N Westlund
Feb 12, 1999·Brain Research. Brain Research Reviews·G W Lu, W D Willis

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Barrel cortex

Here is the latest research on barrel cortex, a region of somatosensory and motor corticies in the brain, which are used by animals that rely on whiskers for world exploration.