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Nociceptive and thermoreceptive lamina I neurons are anatomically distinct

Nature Neuroscience volume 1, pages 218–225 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

Pain and temperature stimuli activate neurons of lamina I within the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, and although these neurons can be classified into three basic morphological types and three major physiological classes, earlier studies did not establish a structure/function correlation between their morphology and their physiological responses. We recorded and intracellularly labeled 38 cat lamina I neurons. All 12 fusiform cells were nociceptive-specific, responsive only to pinch and/or heat. All 11 pyramidal cells were thermoreceptive-specific, responsive only to innocuous cooling. Of ten multipolar cells, six were polymodal, responsive to heat, pinch and cold, and four were nociceptive-specific. Five unclassified cells had features consistent with this pattern. These results support the view that central pain and temperature pathways contain anatomically discrete sets of modality-selective neurons.

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Figure 1: Intracellular responses of NS, COLD and HPC cells.
Figure 2: Intracellular responses of different classes of lamina I cells to prolonged current injection (0.5 nA, 500–600 ms, indicated by the bars).
Figure 6: Digital photomicrographs of intracellularly stained, identified lamina I neurons.
Figure 7: Camera lucida reconstructions of the full dendritic extent of one example of each of the identified functional/morphological categories of lamina I neurons.
Figure 3: Camera-lucida drawings of the soma and proximal dendrites of each identified NS cell.
Figure 4: Camera-lucida drawings of the soma and proximal dendrites of each identified COLD cell.
Figure 5: Camera-lucida drawings of the soma and proximal dendrites of each identified HPC cell.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Elizabeth O'Campo, Maribeth Tatum, and Jan Carey for assistance. This work was supported by NIH grants NS 25616 and DA 07402 and the James R. Atkinson Pain Research Fund administered by the Barrow Neurological Foundation.

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  1. Z.-S. Han

    Present address: RS Dow Neurological Sciences Institute, 1120 NW 20th Ave., Portland, Oregon, 97209, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Divisions of Neurobiology and Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, 350 West Thomas Rd., Phoenix, 85013, Arizona, USA

    Z.-S. Han, E.-T. Zhang & A.D. Craig

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Correspondence to A.D. Craig.

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Han, ZS., Zhang, ET. & Craig, A. Nociceptive and thermoreceptive lamina I neurons are anatomically distinct . Nat Neurosci 1, 218–225 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/665

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