Mechanism of transmission and modulation of renal pain in cats: effect of nucleus raphe magnus stimulation on renal pain

Abstract

Initially, when periaqueductal gray (PAG) is electrically stimulated, analgesia is induced, and this phenomenon is called stimulation-produced analgesia. Nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) as well as PAG are known to be the potent analgesic centers. NRM could modulate the nociceptive response of spinal cord neurons through spinally projecting fibers. However, as well as the above analgesic effects have been confined to the somatic pain, it was variable according to species, and the analgesic effect by NRM stimulation on the visceral pain was not yet clarified. In this study the analgesic effect by NRM stimulation on the visceral pain was examined through recording the activities of the dorsal horn neurons with renal input and renal pain, as a type of visceral pain. The renal pain was induced by ureteral occlusion or renal arterial occlusion, which in turn activated the renal mechanoreceptor or chemoreceptor. These cells had concomitant somatic input. In order to compare the effects of NRM stimulation on the renal pain with somatic pain, the somatic stimulation such as squeezing was conducted on the peripheral receptive field. The main results are summarized as follows: 1) After an electrical stimulation of NRM, spontaneous activities of dorsal horn neurons with renal input were reduced to 73.3 ± 9.7% of the control value. 2) After an electrical stimulation of NRM, activities of dorsal horn neurons with renal input evoked by a brush, a type of non-noxious stimuli, did not change significantly. But the activities by a squeeze, a type of noxious stimuli, the activities were reduced to 63.2 ± 7.2% of the control value. 3) After an electrical stimulation of NRM, activities of dorsal horn neurons with renal input evoked by occlusion of ureter or renal artery were reduced to 46.7 ± 8.8% and 49.0 ± 8.0% of the control value respectively. 4) The inhibitory effect of NRM on the dorsal horn neurons with renal input did not show any difference between renal A δ fiber and C fiber group. 5) By the electrical stimulation of NRM, the activities evoked by ureteral occlusion showed more reduction in the high threshold cell group than in the wide dynamic range cell group. These results suggest that activation of NRM can alleviate the renal pain as well as the somatic pain by modulating the dorsal horn neurons activities.