Neuro week 13 Flashcards
Visceral organs are insensitive to ordinary mechanical and thermal stimuli but have
- Mechanoreceptors that are sensitive to distensions and
- Chemoreceptors that are sensitive to a variety of chemical substances.
- Both can trigger visceral local or long-loop reflexes.
- Sudden or large magnitude distensions and spasms of muscular walls of viscera or decreased blood supply to the viscera may cause severe pain
The forms of pain often distinguished by treatment. Nociceptive pain is commonly treated with
Anti-inflammatories, counter-irritants and narcotics if necessary.
Hyperalgesia
Exaggerated sensitivity to noxious stimuli
Pain is a system that
Alerts the nervous system to danger.
Perception of pain is not just the cognitive recognition of nociceptive 1° afferent input but it is also a complex blending of various sensory modalities and the affective understanding of the sensory input
T / F- The vagus nerve variably innervate atrial muscle so produces only a Variable negative ionotropic effect on atria only. So parasympathetics have only a chronotropic and dromotropic effects with the latter only in the AV node. Therefore only negligible effect of parasympathetic activation on cardiac muscle contractility
True
Stimulation of parasympathetic innervation originating in spinal cord segments S2-S4 results in .PES
- Secretion of vaginal glands,
- Engorgement of the clitoris,
- Penile erection -disruption of parasympathetics can produce erectile dysfunction but there are so many other causes
Rate of depolarization of inspiratory neurons in medulla are increased by
Central chemoreceptor input (ventral medulla).
Chemoreceptor afferents will further increase the number of neurons activated. The increased rate of depolarization with increased rate of breathing and increased number of neurons activated will increase the depth of ventilation.
Medullary Chemoreceptors are sensitive to elevated H+ in cerebrospinal fluid which was produced by elevated CO2 in blood. Thus increased CO2 in the blood is the trigger for increased ventilatory rate and depth of ventilation.
What neurotransmitter is released at preganglionic and post-ganglionic terminals in the parasynpathetic division?
ACh
In the autonomic ganglion neuron the post-ganglionic axon has varicosities along it that release either of 2 transmitter
NE excitatory or ACh inhibitory on the smooth muscle or effector organ upon which it ends.
What is Pain?
The cognitive recognition of noxious stimuli or injury. .
Stimulation of nociceptors produces
Acute pain, but can experience both central and peripheral plasticity which can enhance the pain.
The Apneustic Center in the caudal pons integrate
Afferent & central drives to inspiratory & expiratory UMNs
Chronic pain is very different. It has
- No clear point of onset and outlasts time expected for tissue healing.
- It may occur with or without tissue damage – so NOT proportional to extent of damage and serves. No protective function.
- It is likely an example of negative neuroplasticity
There are two principal proposed mechanisms for pain modulation GD
Gate Control theory of pain and
Descending control (formerly called the enkephalinergic modulation of pain)
In the Somatic nervous system LMN axon within the CNS produces Acetylcholine and ends directly on skeletal muscle cells in what junction?
Neuromuscular junction
Sympathetic innervation of the bladder is from
Spinal cord segments T11-L2 Via inferior mesenteric & pelvic ganglia.
Sympathetics produces a relaxation of the detrusor and contraction of the internal urethral sphincter, thus preventing the bladder from emptying
Sympathetic Prevertebral ganglia comprised of - CSI
- Celiac
- Superior mesenteric ganglia
- Inferior mesenteric ganglia
Control of ventilation is accomplished by a network of complex circuitry, mostly in the medulla. There are visceral afferents from the
Carotid and aortic chemoreceptors via CN IX & X which help in this regulation. Output to somatic lower motor neurons which contact the skeletal muscle of the diaphragm and accessory ventilatory muscles
T / F Both somatic and autonomic systems Increase/Decreased activity of their target tissues
True
What type of effect does the autonomic nervous system neurotransmitter have?
- Both excitatory & inhibitory effects on their target tissues depending upon the type of transmitter and receptor.
Signs of ectopic pain
- Positive Tinel’s sign over an unusual area of nerve.
- Positive Tinel’s sign from only light tapping over an area of inflammation can produce severe pain
Similarity of Somatic & Autonomic system
Both have conscious and unconscious components but they differ in the magnitude of conscious and unconscious control over them
Both systems function in volitional activities – activity requires changes in both somatic and autonomic system .
Differences in the somatic and autonomic systems- Major brain structures that receives afferent information-
- Thalamus & cerebral cortex -somatic afferents
- Hypothalamus- autonomic afferents
- Key upper regulatory centers
Control of ventilation is a function of which system?
Automatic (non-voluntary) function but NOT autonomic
Pain has a very important role in preparing the body for response to injury including both
somatic & autonomic responses. In addition we can modulate the pain with descending modulation of this input
Paleospinothalamic component
Sometimes referred to as the (Paramedial ascending system-PAS) involves neurons actived by the unmyelinated C primary afferent fibers. These ascending pathways initially rising in the lateral spinothalamic pathway, projects to brainstem, hypothalamus, midline thalamus & cingulate cortex.
This Paleospinothalamic component Mediates affective slow pain which is the poorly localized, emotional content of pain
Autonomic innervation of the heart is both sympathetic and parasympathetic
Sympathetic stimulation
Increases rate & force of contraction from activity in efferent fibers from the upper thoracic segments (T1-T6) Via cervical & upper thoracic ganglia
Higher level control of the autonomic nervous system comes from the
Hypothalamus.
Hypothalamic descending supra-spinal projections to:
- Preganglionic sympathetic neurons in T1-L2 via hypo-thalamospinal tract
- Preganglionic parasympathetic neurons in S2-S4
Both Noradrenergic & serotonergic pathways inhibit tract cells using primarily _________ Inhibition; Enkephlinergic pathways produce _______ inhibition and GABA inhibitory interneurons which produces_________ inhibition
Post-synaptic inhibition.
Pre-synaptic inhibition.
Both pre & post-synaptic inhibition
Primary afferent released Glutamate (glut) binds to AMPA/KA receptors and produce the
Fast EPSPs seen in post-synaptic neurons.
Primary afferent released Substance P (SP) produces slow EPSPs and also activates 2nd messenger systems in the post-synaptic cells
CFRP & ATP also appear to activate 2nd messenger intracellular systems
Common causes of Neuropathic (neurogenic) pain are
Peripheral nerve pathologies – metabolic polyneuropathies or infectious mononeuropathies and Thalamic syndrome, which is abnormal firing of thalamic neurons producing pain as perceived by the cerebral cortex
Myofascial Trigger Points
Localized pain point generally in fascial covering of muscle or within muscle and have been related to localized peripheral sensitization and axon reflexes
What neurotransmitter is released by the Sympathetic Division CNS preganglionic and postganglionic neurons
- ACh @ preganglionic terminals
- NE @ postganglionic terminal on the target tissue.
- In a sense the Adrenal medulla is a specialized sympathetic ganglion that instead of releasing NE as a transmitter it releases Epinephrine and NE as hormones
Neuropathic pain is most commonly treated using
Na+ channel blocking agents such as Gabapentin (NeurontinTM) & Pregabalin (LyricaTM), Carbamazepine & other anti-seizure medications and Lidocaine & other local anesthetics.
Inspiratory neurons in medulla stimulate LMNs in spinal segments C3, C4 & C5 and project to the
Diaphragm via the phrenic nerve.
There are also slightly higher threshold inspiratory neurons that when activated will send descending excitatory activation to the LMNs in the cervical and thoracic LMNs that innervate the accessory muscles of inhalation (sternocleidomastoid, traps, intercostals)
0%’>Bladder to empty
Pain can be defined as
nociceptive or neuropathic pain.
Several descending systems which have an effect on pain modulation.
Cerebral cortex and hypothalamic projections to midbrain & brainstem activate several nuclei within the brainstem.
- Periaqueductal gray has enkephalinergic neurons which descend either directly to the spinal cord or Descend to control Raphe neurons.
- Locus coeruleus has adrenergic neurons which descend to the spinal cord to release NE
- Raphe nuclei have serotonergic neurons which descend to the spinal cord to release serotonin (5-HT)
Peripheral chemoreceptor input via____________ from ____ and via ____________from_______
CN IX, carotid chemoreceptors, & CN X, from aortic chemo-receptors.
These chemoreceptors are also sensitive to increases in blood levels of H+/CO2 which is the result of increased metabolic activity as in exercise. Peripheral chemoreceptors are responsive to the minute by minute changes in blood levels of H+/CO2 while central chemoreceptors are responsive to long-term resting levels of H+/CO2
Nociceptive signals
- Relayed rostrally by the spinothalamic system – specifically by the lateral spinal thalamic tract
- Pain pathway divided into two subdivisions: the neospinothalamic component and the paleospinothalamic component.
Pneumotaxic center
Located in rostral pons
Functions as “off-switch” for inspiration- When the Pneumotaxic center is active, it shortens inspiratory duration which aids in the increased inspiratory rate
Pain is divided into
Acute and chronic pain.
Myelinated afferents (Aδ-fibres) from the bladder are connected to the tension receptors in the bladder wall. These afferents are relayed by neurons in dorsal horn of spinal cord to ascend in the
Dorsolateral funciculus, Relay in thalamus to end in insular cortex to give sensation of bladder “fullness”
Gate-control theory states that
Moderate pain stimulation of tactile receptors can block the pain but very severe pain can override this effect
Autonomic afferents from the abdominal viscera afferents travel to the sympathetic trunk in the
splanchnic nerves
The Gate-control theory involves
Segmental Modulation at level of 1° afferent & relay cell. It begins by realizing that small caliber afferents C-fibers activate 2° neuron (tract cell) to signal pain
Following injury, allodynia may develop in an area where there is no apparent peripheral inflammation
Ordinarily painless stimuli are now experienced as painful- result of altered processing of non-nociceptive input to wide, dynamic-range neurons (WDRN)
Micturation is controlled by the
Pontine micturation center which is excited by periaqueductal gray which was activated by afferents from bladder.
This Stimulates parasympathetics producing detrusor contraction and Inhibits sympathetics relaxing internal urinary sphincter