Physiology of Pain Flashcards
What is pain?
- ‘it’s an unpleasant sensory experience associated with tissue damage”
- Pain is accompanied with an … reaction
- E.g.
- ‘it’s an unpleasant sensory experience associated with tissue damage”
- Pain is accompanied with an emotional reaction
- E.g. negative effect, fear, anxiety
Why do we feel pain?
- So we can avoid … situations e.g. elicits … reflexes
- Prevents further injury or …
- Tells us to … following injury
- So we can avoid harmful situations e.g. elicits withdrawal reflexes
- Prevents further injury or death
- Tells us to rest following injury
People without sensation of pain - mutation in the … channel found on our pain nerve fibres - nociceptors - don’t know when they are … tissues
People without sensation of pain - mutation in the sodium channel found on our pain nerve fibres - nociceptors - don’t know when they are injuring tissues
What are the sensations of pain?
Pain mechanisms
- The mechanism of pain are very complicated
- … and … components
- The mechanism of pain are very complicated
- Peripheral and central components
Classification of pain
- …:
- normal functioning of nociceptors
- In response to tissue injury
- …:
- Pain in response to injury to the nervous system
- Nociceptive:
- normal functioning of nociceptors
- In response to tissue injury
- Neuropathic:
- Pain in response to injury to the nervous system
Classification of pain
- Nociceptive:
- normal functioning of nociceptors
- In response to … injury
- Neuropathic:
- Pain in response to injury to the … …
- Nociceptive:
- normal functioning of nociceptors
- In response to tissue injury
- Neuropathic:
- Pain in response to injury to the nervous system
Nociceptors
- Nociceptors are primary … neurons that detect …
- Pseudounipolar neurons that have one long single axon, which has a peripheral part and a central part
- Nociceptors are primary sensory neurons that detect pain
- Pseudounipolar neurons that have one long single axon, which has a peripheral part and a central part
Nociceptors
- Nociceptors are primary … neurons that detect pain
- … neurons that have one long single axon, which has a peripheral part and a central part
- Nociceptors are primary sensory neurons that detect pain
- Pseudounipolar neurons that have one long single axon, which has a peripheral part and a central part
Afferent nerve fibre classification
- Sensory nerve fibres can be classified by diameter and myelin content
- Aalpha and Abeta: 30-75m/sec
- Myelinated?
- … diameter
- Light touch, proprioception
- Adelta fibre - 5-30m/sec
- Myelinated?
- … diameter
- Light touch, temperature, nociception
- C fibre - 0.5-2m/sec
- Myelinated?
- … diameter
- Temperature, nociception
- Sensory nerve fibres can be classified by diameter and myelin content
- Aalpha and Abeta: 30-75m/sec
- Myelinated
- Large diameter
- Light touch, proprioception
- Adelta fibre - 5-30m/sec
- Thinly myelinated
- Medium diameter
- Light touch, temperature, nociception
- C fibre - 0.5-2m/sec
- Unmyelinated
- Small diameter
- Temperature, nociception
Afferent nerve fibre classification
- Sensory nerve fibres can be classified by diameter and myelin content
- Aalpha and Abeta: 30-75m/sec
- Myelinated
- Large diameter
- Light touch, p…
- Adelta fibre - 5-30m/sec
- Thinly myelinated
- Medium diameter
- Light touch, t…, n…
- C fibre - 0.5-2m/sec
- Unmyelinated
- Small diameter
- …, …
- Sensory nerve fibres can be classified by diameter and myelin content
-
Aalpha and Abeta: 30-75m/sec
- Myelinated
- Large diameter
- Light touch, proprioception
-
Adelta fibre - 5-30m/sec
- Thinly myelinated
- Medium diameter
- Light touch, temperature, nociception
-
C fibre - 0.5-2m/sec
- Unmyelinated
- Small diameter
- Temperature, nociception
which afferent nerve fibre recognise pain?
… delta and … fibres that transmit pain information up towards your spinal cord
Alpha delta and C fibres that transmit pain information up towards your spinal cord
Afferent nerve endings
- Nociceptors have … nerve endings in the periphery
- A-… fibres - very specialised nerve endings
- Meisner’s corpuscle - responds to very light stroking of the skin of fluttering across the surface of the skin
- Pacinian corpuscle - responds to vibration
- Ruffini ending - responds to a stretching of the skin
- Under surface - merkel discs - very light, fine touch
- A-… or …-fibres
- Quite different
- Arborise
- Endings - free endings within tissue
- No specialised organelles at peripheral termina
- A-… fibres - very specialised nerve endings
- Nociceptors have free nerve endings in the periphery
- A-beta fibres - very specialised nerve endings
- Meisner’s corpuscle - responds to very light stroking of the skin of fluttering across the surface of the skin
- Pacinian corpuscle - responds to vibration
- Ruffini ending - responds to a stretching of the skin
- Under surface - merkel discs - very light, fine touch
- A-delta or C-fibres
- Quite different
- Arborise
- Endings - free endings within tissue
- No specialised organelles at peripheral termina
- A-beta fibres - very specialised nerve endings
Afferent nerve endings
- Nociceptors have free nerve endings in the periphery
- A-beta fibres - very specialised nerve endings
- … corpuscle - responds to very light stroking of the skin of fluttering across the surface of the skin
- … corpuscle - responds to vibration
- … ending - responds to a stretching of the skin
- Under surface - … discs - very light, fine touch
- A-delta or C-fibres
- Quite different
- Arborise
- Endings - free endings within tissue
- No specialised … at peripheral termina
- A-beta fibres - very specialised nerve endings
- Nociceptors have free nerve endings in the periphery
- A-beta fibres - very specialised nerve endings
- Meisner’s corpuscle - responds to very light stroking of the skin of fluttering across the surface of the skin
- Pacinian corpuscle - responds to vibration
- Ruffini ending - responds to a stretching of the skin
- Under surface - merkel discs - very light, fine touch
- A-delta or C-fibres
- Quite different
- Arborise
- Endings - free endings within tissue
- No specialised organelles at peripheral termina
- A-beta fibres - very specialised nerve endings
Nociceptor responses
- What does it feel like when nociceptors are activated?
- A-delta - … pricking pain
- C-fibres - slow … ache, … pain
- What does it feel like when nociceptors are activated?
- A-delta - sharp pricking pain
- C-fibres - slow dull ache, burning pain
Nociceptor responses
- What does it feel like when nociceptors are activated?
- … - sharp pricking pain
- … - slow dull ache, burning pain
- What does it feel like when nociceptors are activated?
- A-delta - sharp pricking pain
- C-fibres - slow dull ache, burning pain
Unmyelinated (…) nociceptors mediate the burning pain from noxious heat stimuli and pain from prolonged mechanical stimuli.
Unmyelinated (C-fiber) nociceptors mediate the burning pain from noxious heat stimuli and pain from prolonged mechanical stimuli.
… … fibers carry sharp/pricking pain
A deltafibers carry sharp/pricking pain
In the lab… (sensory nerve fibres - pain)
- Recordings can be made from all sensory fibre types in a whole nerve
- Whole sensory nerve - stimulate one end - record AP at other end
- Time following the electrical stimulation - x axis
- Voltage - y axis - amplitude of signal at the recording electrodes - essentially equivalent to number of AP
- Oscilloscope - at your recording electrodes - you get a trace that looks like ^
- Compound AP - sum of all AP arriving at your recording electrode
- First of all - very fast very tall peak, corresponds to the arrival of all a-alpha and a-beta nerve fibres AP arriving at recording electrodes - first to arrive
- Second peak - a-delta fibres being stimulated - AP arrival
- Third peak - very long, drawn out, low peak - C-fibre response - conduct much slower - 1m/s - much longer for AP to arrive at the recording electrodes
- 3 peaks overall - Peak looks relatively small for C - but … C-fibres than other nerve fibres
- Recordings can be made from all sensory fibre types in a whole nerve
- Whole sensory nerve - stimulate one end - record AP at other end
- Time following the electrical stimulation - x axis
- Voltage - y axis - amplitude of signal at the recording electrodes - essentially equivalent to number of AP
- Oscilloscope - at your recording electrodes - you get a trace that looks like ^
- Compound AP - sum of all AP arriving at your recording electrode
- First of all - very fast very tall peak, corresponds to the arrival of all a-alpha and a-beta nerve fibres AP arriving at recording electrodes - first to arrive
- Second peak - a-delta fibres being stimulated - AP arrival
- Third peak - very long, drawn out, low peak - C-fibre response - conduct much slower - 1m/s - much longer for AP to arrive at the recording electrodes
- 3 peaks overall - Peak looks relatively small for C - but more C-fibres than other nerve fibres
Pain Transduction
- Two pain responses:
- Fast … pricking pain
- … localised
- Activation of reflex arcs
- Activation of a-delta fibres - … pain response
- Slow … ache
- … localised
- Activation of c-fibres - last peak on trace - … pain response - much slower
- Fast … pricking pain
- Visceral pain - no first response - innervated by C-fibres, not a-delta fibres
- Two pain responses:
- Fast sharp pricking pain
- Well localised
- Activation of reflex arcs
- Activation of a-delta fibres - first pain response
- Slow dull ache
- Poorly localised
- Activation of c-fibres - last peak on trace - second pain response - much slower
- Fast sharp pricking pain
- Visceral pain - no first response - innervated by C-fibres, not a-delta fibres
Pain Transduction
- Two pain responses:
- Fast sharp pricking pain
- Well localised
- Activation of reflex arcs
- Activation of …-… fibres - first pain response
- Slow dull ache
- Poorly localised
- Activation of …-… - last peak on trace - second pain response - much slower
- Fast sharp pricking pain
- … pain - no first response - innervated by …-…, not …-… fibres
- Two pain responses:
- Fast sharp pricking pain
- Well localised
- Activation of reflex arcs
- Activation of a-delta fibres - first pain response
- Slow dull ache
- Poorly localised
- Activation of c-fibres - last peak on trace - second pain response - much slower
- Fast sharp pricking pain
- Visceral pain - no first response - innervated by C-fibres, not a-delta fibres
Visceral pain - no first response - innervated by …-fibres, not … fibres
Visceral pain - no first response - innervated by C-fibres, not a-delta fibres
Activation of nociceptors:
- P…
- Heat
- C…
- C…
- Tissue …/…
- Pressure
- Heat
- Cold
- Chemical
- Tissue damage/inflammation
- Most c-fibre nociceptors are polymodal - respond to:
- Respond to …, … and …
- Most c-fibre nociceptors are polymodal - respond to:
- Respond to pressure, temperature and chemical
Polymodal nociceptors
- Most …-fibre nociceptors are polymodal - respond to:
- Respond to pressure, temperature and chemical, but in our brain - each feels …
- “our ability to distinguish pain sensations resulting from heat, cold or pressure must involve decoding within the central nervous system” - Julius & Basbaum, 2001
- how do we distinguish between them?
- Most c-fibre nociceptors are polymodal - respond to:
- Respond to pressure, temperature and chemical, but in our brain - each feels different
- “our ability to distinguish pain sensations resulting from heat, cold or pressure must involve decoding within the central nervous system” - Julius & Basbaum, 2001
- how do we distinguish between them?
Moreover, because most nociceptors are …, our ability to distinguish pain sensations resulting from heat, cold or pressure must involve decoding of nociceptive signals within the … … ….
Moreover, because most nocicep- tors are polymodal, our ability to distinguish pain sensations resulting from heat, cold or pressure must involve decoding of nociceptive signals within the central nervoussystem.
Pressure transduction
- … sensitive … channels respond to pressure
- Precise … not yet identified (possibly acid sensing ion channels, transient receptor potential channels)
- Mechanically sensitive ion channels respond to pressure
- Precise channels not yet identified (possibly acid sensing ion channels, transient receptor potential channels)