WDR response profiles of spinal dorsal horn neurons may be unmasked by barbiturate anesthesia
- 1 March 1987
- journal article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Pain
- Vol. 28 (3), 369-378
- https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3959(87)90071-6
Abstract
The number of WDR (convergent, multireceptive) neurons encountered in the spinal dorsal horn of physiologically intact, awake, drug-free cats has been much smaller than expected (9% in intact, drug-free animals). Control studies in barbiturate-anesthetized or spinal cord transected animals indicate that the dearth of WDR neurons was not just an artifact of the chronic recording technique. In those preparations WDR neurons represented 34% and 61% of the sample, respectively. Initial studies in which the effects of light barbiturate anesthesia on spinal dorsal horn neurons ( n = 12) have been examined revealed that a 20 mg/kg dose of pentobarbital can, in some neurons ( n = 4), unmask thermally evoked activity that was not present in the intact, drug-free animal. Responses to noxious mechanical stimuli were also enhanced following barbiturate administration. These changes resulted in a reclassification of neural type from low threshold in the intact, awake, drug-free animal to WDR in the anesthetized animal.Keywords
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