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Spinothalamic lamina I neurones selectively responsive to cutaneous warming in cats
Author(s) -
Andrew D.,
Craig A. D.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7793.2001.00489.x
Subject(s) - phoenix , neurosurgery , medicine , library science , psychology , neuroscience , surgery , pathology , computer science , metropolitan area
1 In order to further characterize the role of lamina I as the source of central ascending neural pathways for thermoreception and thermoregulation, experiments were performed on anaesthetized cats to determine the quantitative response characteristics of warming‐specific lumbosacral spinothalamic lamina I neurones. 2 We identified 10 neurones out of 474 that were selectively excited by cutaneous warming (Warm cells). Their thresholds were all in the range 35‐37 °C at a baseline of 34.5 °C, and their discharge linearly encoded the temperature of graded, innocuous warming stimuli with a sensitivity of 2.1 Hz °C −1 . 3 The stimulus‐response function of the Warm cells plateaued at temperatures that were in the noxious heat range. 4 The Warm cells were distinguished from other classes of spinothalamic lamina I neurones by their peripheral inputs, central conduction velocities and level of ongoing activity. 5 The discharge of Warm cells compares well with the known human psychophysics of warm sensibility, and these neurones are likely to be crucial to discriminative thermoreception. Additionally, a role in thermoregulation, a defining feature of mammalian homeostasis, is suggested.