Pain 1 Flashcards
What is nociception?
The sensory process that provides the signals that trigger pain
What is pain?
The feeling or perception of irritating, sore, stinging, aching, throbbing, miserable or unbearable sensations arising from a part of the body
What is congenital anaesthesia?
An inherited inability to feel pain
What is the morphology of nociceptors, where are they found?
Found in the periphery (dermal-epidermal border)
Simple free nerve endings - peripheral nerve terminates as naked, unmyelinated endings in the dermis
What is the basic mechanism of nociception?
Tissue damage and inflammation triggers the release of substances eg. prostaglandins, bradykinin and histamine that can sensitize peripheral nociceptors and induce hyperalgesia
What 3 substances are released by inflamed or damaged tissue which sensitize nociceptors?
1) Prostaglandins
2) Bradykinin
3) Histamine
Transduction of nociceptive stimuli occurs in the free nerve endings of which 2 types of fibres?
1) unmyelinated C fibres
2) thinly myelinated Ad (a delta) fibres
Some nociceptors are polymodal, however some only respond to one modality, what are the 3 possible modalities they can respond to?
1) Mechanical - respond to strong pressure
2) Thermal - respond to burning heat/ extreme cold
3) Chemical - respond to histamine or other chemicals
In what 3 ways does the brain respond to nociception?
1) Feels pain
2) Avoidance (motor fibres may leave spinal cord causing reflex withdrawal)
3) Emotional reaction
What are the 4 parts to the physiological basis of pain?
1) Activation of peripheral nociceptors that express heterogenous populations of receptors/ion channels
2) Transmission of impulses via a delta and c afferents to spinal cord
3) Projection to brain via ascending pathways
4) Subjective experience of sensory and emotional components of pain
Describe an experiment to distinguish between sensory afferents that subserve somatic heat sensation and nociceptive afferents that detect painful heat?
1) Thermal stimuli applied to receptive field of cutaneous receptor and nociceptor
2) Record afferent firing in response to incremental increases in temperature
3) Afferents that subserve somatic sensation do not increase there firing as the temperature goes beyond a painful threshold
4) Nociceptive afferents - don’t fire at lower temps but continue to increase firing as temperature goes above a painful threshold
Thermal and mechanical nociceptors have what kind of fibres?
A Delta fibre
Polymodal nociceptors have what kind of fibres?
C fibres
2 categories of pain have been described - first and second pain, which type of fibre is each carried by, what nociceptors detect each and what is the nature of each/
1st PAIN - Carried by fast a delta fibres - Sharp or prickling - Easily localised - Occurs rapidly with short duration - Mechanical or thermal nociceptors 2nd PAIN - Carried by slow C fibres - Dull ache, burning - Poorly localised - Slow onset, persistent - Polymodal nociceptors
How has the different role of a delta and C fibres in first and second pain been shown?
It is possible to selectively anaesthetise C fibres and A delta fibres to dissect out the role of each sensory afferent in pain perception
Cold thermoreception and sharp pain are carried by which type of fibres?
A delta
Warm thermoreception and burning pain are carried by which type of fibres?
C
Where are the bare nerve endings that detect warm and cold thermoreception located?
Deep epidermis
Where are nociceptors that detect pain located?
In the epidermis
Where are the cell bodies of nociceptive fibres located?
Dorsal root ganglion
Afferent terminals of nociceptive fibres enter the dorsal horn and travel up/down short distances in which tract?
Lissauer’s tract
Afferent terminals of nociceptive fibres synapse with neurons in which laminae of the dorsal horn, what is this called?
The superficial laminae - principally lamina 1 and 2, the substantia gelatinosa
Which 2 lamina make up the substantia gelatinosa?
Lamina 1 and 2
What is the mechanism behind referred pain?
1) Nociceptive afferents from internal organs (viscera) and skin enter the spinal cord through common routes and target overlapping populations of spinal neurons
2) The cross talk between the 2 leads to referred pain whereby visceral pain is perceived as having a cutaneous source by the sufferer
What is referred pain?
When visceral pain is perceived as having a cutaneous source by the sufferer
Oesophageal pain is often referred to where?
The chest wall
Heart pain is often referred to where?
Chest and arm