Effects of noxious electrical tooth stimulations and intraarterial administration of bradykinin or inhalation of volatile anesthetics on substance P content in the diencephalon-mesencephalon, pons-medulla and the spinal cord were examined in the rat. Noxious stimulation by electrical long duration stimulation (type 2) of tooth pulp caused an increase of substance P content in the ponsmedulla. I...

The interaction of substance P with intact lymphatic tissue was quantified and autoradiographically visualized, using slide-mounted tissue sections of rat spleen. Radiolabeled substance P binds rapidly to an apparently single class of noninteracting high affinity sites (Kd = 2.4 nmol/L; Bmax = 9.4 fmol/mg protein). The ligand selectivity pattern suggests that substance P binding sites are simil...

Substance P is thought to play an essential role in several forms of supraspinally mediated analgesia. The actions of substance P on synaptic transmission within descending analgesic pathways, however, are largely unknown. Here, we used whole-cell recordings from rat midbrain slices to examine the effects of substance P on GABAergic and glutamatergic transmission within the periaqueductal gray ...

Rat brain cortex membranes bind to a conjugate of substance P and 12SI-labeled Bolton-Hunter reagent, and this binding can be inhibited by a low concentration of substance P ( K d = 1.2 f 0.4 X lo-* M). This binding is reversible and saturable (0.5 f 0.1 pmol of binding sites/mg of protein). Fragments of substance P as small as the carboxyl-terminal hexapeptide can inhibit the binding although ...

The medial nucleus of the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and medial preoptic area appear to mediate steroidal regulation of mating behavior in male rodents. The mechanism of action has not been determined. One way testosterone could enhance neuronal function is by increasing neurotransmitter levels, thus altering neuronal transmission. To assess this hypothesis, we examined the ...

Excitatory amino acids (EAAs) and substance P are believed to transmit nociceptive information in the spinal cord. As substance P NH2-terminal fragments can modulate non-NMDA EAA-mediated activity, we examined the effects of substance P fragments to ascertain whether the COOH- or NH2-terminus of substance P modulates the actions of NMDA in the spinal cord. NMDA activity was measured by the inte...

Estrogenic modulation of pain is an exceedingly complex phenomenon. However, whether estrogen is involved in discogenic low back pain still remains unclear. Here, immunoreactivity staining technique was used to examine the expression level of the estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ) and a pain related neuropeptide, Substance P in the lumbar intervertebral discs to analyze the relationship between t...