Pain Physiology Flashcards
What is pain?
unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual, perceived, or potential tissue damage
- very subjective!
What is nociception? What are the 5 steps?
processing of pain from outside to inside by a system of neurons integrated with autonomic, endocrine, and musculoskeletal systems
- transduction
- transmission
- modulation
- projection
- perception
What are 4 causes of mild pain?
- superficial skin laceratino
- SQ mass removal
- lymph node aspiration
- routine dentals
What are 3 causes of moderate pain?
- OVH and castrations
- dental extractions and vital procedures
- pancreatitis, myocardial disease
What are 3 causes of severe pain?
- fracture and fixation
- cavitary pain
- abdominal trauma or exploratory
What are 4 causes of excruciating pain?
- multiple fracture trauma
- pleuritis
- head trauma
- abdominal organ capsular expansion
What are 4 potential sites for the generation of signals relevant for pain formation?
- transduction molecules at nerve injury site
- ectopic discharge from intact nerves distal to injury
- increase in spontaneous activity of dorsal ganglion
- ongoing dorsal horn inputs from sensitized nociceptors in the spinal cord
What are the 7 events following injury to peripheral tissues?
- acute injury provokes a barrage of impulses - seconds
- cut end of proximal fibers restract and swell - minutes
- distal segment degenerates and abnormally discharges - hours
- nucleus degenerates - days
- myelin and axon degenerate - week
- sheath provides conduit for regenerating neuron, aiming to target tissue - scar formation
- target tissue reached and growth stops or neuroma forms
What takes part in nociception transduction?
dendritic nerve terminals of sensory fibers —> A delta and C fibers
Where does peripheral sensitization occur? What does it result in?
site of inflammation and nearby tissues (due to inflammatory soup)
release of substances from damaged (affected) cells = further degranulation and local vasodilation
What is nociception transmission? What 2 parts of the spinal cord take part?
channeling of the action potential along the A delta and C nerve fibers
- dorsal root ganglia - somas of C fiber afferents
- dorsal root - afferent fibers encased in fascial covering
Classification of nerves:
What is nociception modulation? Where does it occur?
initial central amplification or suppression of a signal from the periphery
dorsal most grey matter —> dorsal horn
What must be balanced within dorsal horn cells for operation?
INPUT - neural sensory sympathetic motor neurons
OUTPUT - neural emotional autonomic CNS
What are the 4 states of dorsal horn pain? Which are considered normal? Pathologic?
- normal input, normal output
- normal input, suppressed output
- normal input, enhanced output
- subnormal input, grossly enhanced output - end stage of chronic pain, true pathologic pain
- modes 1 and 2
- modes 3 and 4
What is occurring in the normal function modes of dorsal horn cells?
MODE 1 - depolarization of peripheral neurons causes normal excitatory amino acids release with output proportional to stimulus received (initial response)
MODE 2 - output is inhibited by A beta fibers slowing C fiber activity and descending pathways from the limbic system slowing down transmission (how the body copes and drugs take care of pain)
What 5 things occur during Mode 3 in dorsal horn cells?
normal input, enhanced output due to consistent activity
- substance P dumping
- phosphorylation
- voltage-gated channel opening
- calcium influx
- excessive gene induction and expression
What 3 things occur during Mode 4 in dorsal horn cells?
subnormal input, grossly enhanced output
- sprouting processes
- activation of glial cells
- cell death of overexcited inhibitory neurons
What 4 things can alter normal dorsal horn cell function?
- insults that persist or aren’t suppressed well enough (poor pain control)
- massive pain input
- tissue functionally change due to central sensitization
- tissues structurally change (plasticity)
Where does central sensitization occur? What happens?
dorsal horn and ascending tracts
repetitive sensory input causes a release of glutamate from primary afferents, especially in dorsal root ganglia, NMDA receptor Mg stopper dislodgement, and Ca influx
What cascades are activated during central sensitization?
- nitric oxide production
- regulation of gene expression
What role do glial cells take in central sensitization? What additional role do they have?
generation and maintenance of pathologic pain due to activation in response to nerve trauma or proinflammatory mediators (IL-1 beta, TNF alpha, and IL-6)
compromise opioid efficacy for management of chronic pain
What is plasticity?
functional rewiring of pain circuitry where the pain signal changes over time due to differences in nature and intensity of pain
How does plasticity affect the dorsal horn?
decreases in tonic and inhibitory tone (excitability) due to upregulation of cFos and cjun
What are the 4 end results of plasticity and sensitization of the dorsal horn?
- dorsal horn cell exhaustion and death
- axon terminal degeneration
- new terminal appearance
- structural contact between DRG and DH cells monified
What affects the differences in acute and chronic pain?
time interval and healing evidence
What is the difference between acute and chronic pain?
ACUTE = signals actual or potential tissue damage and stops long before healing is complete due to normal dorsal horn cell function
CHRONIC = markedly disassociated from tissue damage and persists long beyond normal time of healing
What is chronic pain?
result of the body’s inability to restore its physiological functions to normal or pre-pain homeostasis levels