Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology, Volume 184: Functional Neuroanatomy of Pain

Pain is an unpleasant but very important biological signal for danger. Nociception is necessary for survival and maintaining the integrity of the organism in a potentially hostile environment. Pain is both a sensory experience and a perceptual metaphor for damage and it is activated by noxious stimuli that act on a complex pain sensory apparatus. However, chronic pain having no more a protective role can become a ruining disease itself, termed "neuropathic pain". List of Contents......Page 5 2.1 Primary Afferent Neuron......Page 9 2.2 Distribution of Nociceptor Peripheral Endings......Page 13 2.3 Termination in the Spinal Cord and Spinal Trigeminal Nucleus......Page 17 2.3.1 Types of Terminals in Substantia Gelatinosa......Page 20 2.4.1 Spinothalamic Tract......Page 31 2.4.2 Projections to the Ventrobasal Thalamus in the Rat......Page 34 2.4.3 Pathways to Extrathalamic Structures......Page 46 2.5 Dorsal Column Nuclei and Nociception......Page 50 2.6 Cerebellum and Nociception......Page 51 2.7 Cortices Involved in Pain Perception and Thalamocortical Projections......Page 52 2.8 Descending Modulatory Pathways......Page 55 3 Neuropathic Pain......Page 57 3.1 Central Changes Consequent to Peripheral Nerve Injury......Page 61 3.2 The Role of Glial Cells......Page 66 3.3 Neuropathology of Herpes Zoster and of Postherpetic Neuralgia......Page 67 3.4 Diabetic Neuropathic Pain......Page 69 3.5 Cancer Neuropathic Pain......Page 70 3.6.1 Spinal Cord Injury......Page 71 3.6.2 Brain Injury......Page 72 3.6.3 Changes in Cortical Networks Due to Chronic Pain......Page 74 4 Concluding Remarks......Page 75 5 Summary......Page 76 H......Page 124 O......Page 125 Z......Page 126 "This contribution throws light on the complex machinery of pain processing, from the perspective of the connections between key structures that are necessary for a profound understanding of the phenomenon of pain."--BOOK JACKET