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The Nociceptive Modulatory Effects of Periaqueductal Gray Activation are Mediated by Two Neuronal Classes in the Rostral Ventromedial Medulla

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The Midbrain Periaqueductal Gray Matter

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((NSSA,volume 213))

Abstract

The periaqueductal gray (PAG) has long been implicated in the central modulation of nociceptive transmission (for reviews see Basbaum and Fields, 1984; Besson and Chaouch, 1987). PAG activation suppresses nociceptive reflexes and inhibits the responses of nociceptive cells in the spinal and medullary dorsal horns. The antinociceptive effects of PAG stimulation are mediated, at least in part, by a synaptic relay in the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), a region that contains many neurons that project directly to the dorsal horn and spinal trigeminal nucleus. This chapter will review our current knowledge on the role of the PAG-RVM-dorsal horn pathway in the modulation of nociceptive transmission.

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  1. Department of Neurology, UCSF, San Francisco, USA

    Peggy Mason

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  1. Peggy Mason
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  1. L.N.B.C, Centre de Neurochimie du CNRS, 5 rue Blaise Pascal, 67084, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    Antoine Depaulis

  2. Dept. of Anatomy, University of Sydney, 2006, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Richard Bandler

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Mason, P. (1991). The Nociceptive Modulatory Effects of Periaqueductal Gray Activation are Mediated by Two Neuronal Classes in the Rostral Ventromedial Medulla. In: Depaulis, A., Bandler, R. (eds) The Midbrain Periaqueductal Gray Matter. NATO ASI Series, vol 213. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3302-3_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3302-3_16

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