Chapter 7 Functional properties of spinal visceral afferents supplying abdominal and pelvic organs, with special emphasis on visceral nociception

doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(08)62758-2

Progress in Brain Research

Volume 67, 1986, Pages 87-114

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This chapter discusses the functional and the morphological properties of the spinal visceral afferent neurons, supplying the abdominal and pelvic organs. These neurons are involved in the regulation of the visceral functions, in sensations and in various spinal and supraspinal reflexes. Special emphasis has been placed on the visceral nociception and pain. The spatial resolution of the sensations that can be elicited from the viscera is relatively vague and can be fully explained, by the segmental width of the afferent inflow from each viscus. Most spinal visceral afferent units have various common functional properties: they are silent or display a low rate of ongoing activity; their axons are unmyelinated or thinly myelinated (conduction velocity below 2 m/second and mostly below 20 m/second, respectively); their receptive fields consist of from 1-9 mechanosensitive sites located in the mesenteries on the serosal surface or on the walls of the organs; local pressure in their receptive fields elicits slowly adapting responses; they respond to distensions and contractions of the viscera and to stretching of their mechanosensitive endings; they respond to various chemical stimuli applied in their receptive fields.

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E. Bahns, U. Ernsberger, W. Jänig and A. Nelke, (1986a) Functional characteristics of lumbar visceral afferent fibres...

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Chapter 7 Functional properties of spinal visceral afferents supplying abdominal and pelvic organs, with special emphasis on visceral nociception

Publisher Summary

Neurosci. Lett.

J. Auton. Nerv. System

J. Auton. Nerv. System

J. Auton. Nerv. System

Lancet

Neurosci. Lett.

Pain

J. Auton. Nerv. System

Neurosci. Lett.

J. Urol.

Brain Res. Bull.

Brain Res.

Pain

J. Urol.

Pain

Estimation of nuclear population from microtome sections

Anat. Rec.

Studies on the inhibitory nervous control of gastric motility

Acta Physiol. Scand. Suppl.

Cystometry

Afferent nervous discharge from the canine liver

Q. J. Exp. Physiol.

Unmyelinated fibres in the sacral 3 and caudal 1 ventral roots of the cat

J. Physiol.

Segmental localization of sensory cells that innervate the bladder

J. Comp. Neurol.

Données nouvelles sur la décharge des mécanorécepteurs vésicaux

Pflügers Arch.

Functional characteristics of sacral afferent fibres from the urinary bladder, colon and the anus

Pflügers Arch.

Reaction of visceral afferents in the pelvic nerve to distension and contraction of the urinary bladder in the cat

Neurosci. Lett.

Search for a cardiac nociceptor: stimulation by bradykinin of sympathetic afferent nerve endings in the heart of the cat

J. Physiol.

The afferent and sympathetic components of the lumbar spinal outflow to the colon and pelvic organs in the cat: I. The hypogastric nerve

J. Comp. Neurol.

The afferent and sympathetic components of the lumbar spinal outflow to the colon and pelvic organs in the cat: II. The lumbar splanchnic nerves

J. Comp. Neurol.

The afferent and sympathetic components of the lumbar spinal outflow to the colon and pelvic organs in the cat: III. The colonic nerves, incorporating an analysis of all components of the lumbar prevertebral outflow

J. Comp. Neurol.

Renal receptors evoking a spinal vasomotor reflex

J. Physiol.

Bradykinin and serotonin effects on various types of cutaneous nerve fibres

Pflügers Arch.

A movement receptor of the small intestine

J. Physiol.

Encoding of visceral noxious stimuli in the discharge patterns of visceral afferent fibres from the colon

Pflügers Arch.

Cutaneous mechanoreceptors and nociceptors

Electrophysiological characteristics of renorenal reflexes in the cat

J. Physiol.

Mechanisms of visceral pain

Somatic and visceral primary afferents in the lower throracic dorsal root ganglia of the cat

J. Comp. Neurol.

The localization of the intestinal inhibitory reflex arc

Q. J. Exp. Physiol.

Central projections of afferent renal fibers in the rat: an anterograde transport study of horseradish peroxidase

J. Auton. Nerv. System

Receptive fields of unmyelinated ventral root afferent fibres in the cat

J. Physiol.

Law of separation of function of the spinal roots

Physiol. Rev.

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J. Physiol.

Unmyelinated axons in the ventral roots of the cat lumbosacral enlargement

J. Comp. Neurol.

Cineradiographie and intraluminal pressure correlations in the pharynx and oesophagus

The motility of the pelvic colon. IV. Abdominal pain associated with colonic hypermotility after meals

Gut

On the physiology of micturition

Brain

An investigation of the nervous control of defaecation

Brain

Histochemical and electron-microscopic observations on the innervation of the upper segment of the mammalian ureter

J. Anat.