Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Oct 30;464(3):170-2.
doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2009.08.036. Epub 2009 Aug 20.

Rostral ventral medulla cholinergic mechanism in pain-induced analgesia

Robert W Gear  1 , Jon D Levine
Affiliations

Rostral ventral medulla cholinergic mechanism in pain-induced analgesia

Robert W Gear et al. Neurosci Lett. .

Abstract

The ascending nociceptive control (ANC), a novel spinostriatal pain modulation pathway, mediates a form of pain-induced analgesia referred to as noxious stimulus-induced antinociception (NSIA). ANC includes specific spinal cord mechanisms as well as circuitry in nucleus accumbens, a major component of the ventral striatum. Here, using the trigeminal jaw-opening reflex (JOR) in the rat as a nociceptive assay, we show that microinjection of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) antagonist mecamylamine into the rostral ventral medulla (RVM) blocks NSIA, implicating RVM as a potentially important link between ANC and the PAG-RVM-spinal descending pain modulation system. A circuit connecting nucleus accumbens to the RVM is proposed as a novel striato-RVM pathway.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Effect of intra-RVM mecamylamine on NSIA
A. Intra-RVM mecamylamine blocked NSIA but had no significant effect itself. Data are presented as percentage attenuation of the JOR EMG (mean ± s.e.m.). Numbers in parentheses designate the number of rats in the groups. B. RVM injection sites plotted on drawings adapted from the atlas of [20]. Numbers represent distance caudal of the intra-aural line. Some symbols overlap others. Closed circles, group that received mecamylamine prior to capsaicin injection; open circles, group that received mecamylamine alone.
Figure 1
Figure 1. Effect of intra-RVM mecamylamine on NSIA
A. Intra-RVM mecamylamine blocked NSIA but had no significant effect itself. Data are presented as percentage attenuation of the JOR EMG (mean ± s.e.m.). Numbers in parentheses designate the number of rats in the groups. B. RVM injection sites plotted on drawings adapted from the atlas of [20]. Numbers represent distance caudal of the intra-aural line. Some symbols overlap others. Closed circles, group that received mecamylamine prior to capsaicin injection; open circles, group that received mecamylamine alone.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Basbaum I, Fields HL. Endogenous pain control mechanisms: review and hypothesis. Ann Neurol. 1978;4:451–462. - PubMed
    1. Behbehani M. The role of acetylcholine in the function of the nucleus raphe magnus and in the interaction of this nucleus with the periaqueductal gray. Brain Res. 1982;252:299–307. - PubMed
    1. Bowker M, Westlund KN, Sullivan MC, Wilber JF, Coulter JD. Descending serotonergic, peptidergic and cholinergic pathways from the raphe nuclei: a multiple transmitter complex. Brain Res. 1983;288:33–48. - PubMed
    1. Brodie S, Proudfit HK. Antinociception induced by local injections of carbachol into the nucleus raphe magnus in rats: alteration by intrathecal injection of monoaminergic antagonists. Brain Res. 1986;371:70–79. - PubMed
    1. Buelke-Sam, Holson JF, Bazare JJ, Young JF. Comparative stability of physiological parameters during sustained anesthesia in rats. Lab Anim Sci. 1978;28:157–162. - PubMed

Publication types