L23

Question 1

Visceral vs somatic - sensation and nociception

Answer 1

Visceral sensory activity

• Not consciously perceived
• Elicits unique sensations (bloating, nausea, urgency (to pee), cutting, touch, heat, vibration)
• Code sensation over wide range, from physiological to noxious
• Dual role sometimes (both normal reflexes and nociception)
• Silent unless perturbed by inflammation

Question 2

Defining a molecular signature of visceral sensation

Answer 2

• Phenotypic changes (compare somatic and visceral sensory nerve and identify expression of organ-derived signals that may direct this change)
• Define the transcriptome

Question 3

Features of visceral pain

Answer 3

• Diffuse location
• Referred to other sites
• Can be associated with autonomic dysfunction
• Unrealiable pathology
• Limited animal models

Question 4

Strategies for understanding normal and aberrant sensory signalling at the organ and CNS

Answer 4

Organ - Electrical recordings, cryosection (shows where nerves are going through but not where they are ending), behaviour, autonomic activity, glial and organ-derived transmitters, endogenous steroids

CNS - Sensory connections/receptor pattern, Substance released,

Question 5

T/F - Presence of urothelial cells decrease neuronal growth

Answer 5

F- they increase neuronal growth where damage exposes sensory axons and leads to release of susbstances that sensitise sensory nerves

Question 6

How are capsaicin-activated currents affected by estradiol?

Answer 6

Inhibited by estradiol, affecting the TRPV1 channel BUT does not affect responses to ATP or proteins

Question 7

Where is there no autonomic input - sacral or lumbar?

Answer 7

Lumbar region has no autonomic input