Pain

Question 1

What is pain?

Answer 1

An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with damage

Question 2

What factors can affect someone’s pain?

Answer 2

Medication, past experience, movement, gratitude and surroundings

Question 3

What do nociceptors sense?

Answer 3

Pain

Question 4

Describe the location of pain receptors in human body?

Answer 4

External and internal

Question 5

What different causes of tissue damage result in pain?

Answer 5

Burns, ischaemia, infection and inflammation

Question 6

What are the two types of pain?

Answer 6

Acute and chronic

Question 7

What is the pain pathway?

Answer 7

1) Pain stimulus
2) Nociceptor
3) Transmission to spinal cord via sensory neurones
4) spinal cord processing
5) transmission of pain via ascending tracts in spinal cord to brain
6) processing of pain info in the brain

Question 8

What are the 2 stimulus for pain?

Answer 8

Physical or chemical

Question 9

Give an example of a physical stimuli?

Answer 9

Burn

Question 10

What are the 2 types of nociceptor?

Answer 10

1) High threshold mechanical receptors

2) polymodal nociceptors

Question 11

Which nociceptor responds to intense mechanical stimulation?

Answer 11

High threshold mechanical receptor

Question 12

What are the four basic processes of pain?

Answer 12

1) transduction
2) transmission
3) perception
4) modulation

Question 13

Mast cells release what when in pain?

Answer 13

Histamines

Question 14

The release of histamines, stimulate the release of what neurochemicals?

Answer 14

Substance P

Question 15

What is ischaemia?

Answer 15

A shortage of blood

Question 16

What is hypoxia?

Answer 16

Lack of oxygen

Question 17

Why does ischaemia and hypoxia cause pain?

Answer 17

Blood flow interruption leads to a mass of pain stimulating chemicals

Question 18

What are the two types of afferent or sensory neurones which conduct the pain impulses to the spinal cord?

Answer 18

A delta fibres and c fibres

Question 19

Describe the A delta (first pain) fibre?

Answer 19

An early, localised, intense pain which also mediates the sensation of itching

Question 20

Describe a C fibre? (Second pain)

Answer 20

A slow conducting fibre, a late, poorly localised, long lasting, dull pain

Question 21

What does the transmission process consist of?

Answer 21

The pain is transmitted:

1) site of transduction > nociceptor fibres > dorsal horn in spinal cord
2) spinal cord > brain stem
3) connections between thalamus > cortex and higher levels of the brain

Question 22

Why do A delta fibres transmit pain impulses more quickly than C fibres?

Answer 22

They send impulses faster

Question 23

The grey matter in the spinal cord is organised into a number of layers of?

Answer 23

Laminae (thin layers)

Question 24

The spinal cord consists of what colour matters?

Answer 24

Grey - cells and primary afferent from the periphery

White - ascending and descending fibres

Question 25

Layer 1 of the dorsal horn is called “Lamina I”. Layer 2 is called?

Answer 25

Lamina II

Question 26

What is Central sensitisation?

Answer 26

Neurones in the spinal cord become more sensitive

Question 27

What is the most important spinal cord pathway for signalling pain stimuli?

Answer 27

Lateral spinothalamic tract pathway

Question 28

What is the first neurones involved in the spinothalamic tract? (Pathway from skin to the thalamus)

Answer 28

A or C fibres (Skin)

Question 29

The end result of neuronal activity is?

Answer 29

The perception of pain

Question 30

What is reticular formation ?

Answer 30

Network of pathways in the brainstem connecting the spinal cord, cerebrum and cerebellum. Maintaining consciousness

Question 31

What autonomic responses can be observed when someone is suffering pain?

Answer 31

Fight or flight, muscles tighten, breathing rapid/shallow, HR increase, BP increase, cold and clammy, pupils dilate

Question 32

What does the anterior cingulate cortex do in the brain in relation to pain?

Answer 32

Integrates information about pain perception and can remember how it happened to avoid in the future

Question 33

What are the 3 perceptions of pain?

Answer 33

1) sensory 2) motivational 3) cognitive

Question 34

What is the descending modulatory pain pathway (DMPP)?

Answer 34

The multiple, complex pathways involved in the modulation of pain

Question 35

What is analgesia?

Answer 35

Can’t feel pain

Question 36

Name some inhibition neurotransmitters involve with the modulation of pain?

Answer 36

Serotonin, GABA, noradrenalin, neurotensin and endogenous opioids (endorphins)

Question 37

Which type of stimuli would you associate with pain from all types of tissue damage?

Answer 37

Chemical

Question 38

High threshold mechanoreceptors respond to?

Answer 38

Intense mechanical stimulation

Question 39

In response to a pain stimulus, mast cells secrete?

Answer 39

Histamine

Question 40

The ‘neurochemical soup’ which occurs as a result of painful stimuli activates the nociceptor, causing the opening of?

Answer 40

Sodium channels

Question 41

First pain is associated with high threshold mechanoreceptors and A delta fibres. This type of pain is often described as?

Answer 41

Sharp