Gastric motility is controlled at various levels including the enteric nervous system (ENS). The gastric ENS is involved in the regulation of accommodation reflexes as well as of the peristaltic waves which are responsible for grinding and emptying. Polarised projections consisting of ascending cholinergic and descending nitrergic muscle motor neurons make up the hard wired circuits for control...

22 The cerebellum not only plays a major role in modulating motor activity, but also 23 contributing to other functions, including nociception. The intermediate hemisphere of the 24 cerebellum receives sensory input from the limbs. With the extensive connection between the 25 cerebellum to brain stem structures and cerebral cortex, it is possible that the cerebellum may 26 facilitate the descen...

Comparing synaptic circuits and networks between brains of different animal groups helps us derive an understanding of how nervous systems might have evolved. The circuits of the startle response pathway in the brains of tailed vertebrates are known from electrophysiological studies on the giant reticulospinal Mauthner cells (M-cells). To identify morphological counterparts in chordate tunicate...

Although previous studies have suggested that depression may be associated with inhibition of evoked pain but facilitation of spontaneous pain, the mechanisms underlying these relationships are unclear. The present study investigated whether the difference between evoked and spontaneous pain on sensory (descending inhibition) and affective (avoidance motivation) components contributes to the di...

Although the reciprocal projections between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the gustatory parabrachial nuclei (PbN) have been demonstrated neuroanatomically, there is no direct evidence showing that the projections from the PbN to the BNST carry taste information or that descending inputs from the BNST to the PbN modulate the activity of PbN gustatory neurons. A recent electr...

According to the classification criteria proposed by the American College of Rheumatology, fibromyalgia is a long-standing multifocal pain condition combined with generalised allodynia/hyperalgesia. It is the generalised allodynia/hyperalgesia that distinguishes fibromyalgia from other conditions with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Central sensitisation of nociceptive neurons in the dorsal horn ...

Neurons in ventromedial medulla, including the nucleus raphe magnus, project to trigeminal nucleus caudalis and, via the dorsolateral funiculus, to spinal dorsal horn. The terminals of this descending system are in loci containing cells responsive to noxious stimuli. Electrical stimulation of nucleus raphe magnus selectively inhibits spinal dorsal horn neurons that respond to noxious stimuli. T...

Department of Neurobiology and Key Laboratory of Neurological Diseases of Ministry of Education, The Institute of Brain Research, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China, Department of Anesthesiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth M...

Central pathways transmit pain from peripheral regions to one of the most important area of the descending pain modulatory system, the Periaqueductal gray (PAG). Independent discoveries in the past suggest that the PAG contains afferent input, output neurons and intrinsic interneurons. An attempt was made in the present study to find out the effects of more than one kind of noxious stimulus on ...

This study examined the hypothesis that descending inhibitory pathways from brain stem to spinal cord mediate the analgesic effect of both electrical brain stimulation and morphine. In the first set of experiments, the effect of subtotal midthoracic spinal cord lesions on the analgesic effect of electrical stimulation in the periaqueductal gray matter of the rat was examined. In the second, the...