Dissertation
Primary somatosensory and anterior cingulate single-unit activity after peripheral nerve injury and gabapentin analgesia
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Oct 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000321
Abstract
Chronic Neuropathic Pain is a persistent pain state caused by a lesion or disease in the nervous system and can lead to painful sensory abnormalities, of which the most common is mechanical hypersensitivity. The Primary Somatosensory (S1) and Anterior Cingulate (ACC) cortices are involved in pain perception and have been implicated in chronic pain conditions. S1 processes the sensory discriminative component of pain, while the ACC processes pain affect and motivated behavior. To elucidate adaptive changes that occur in these two brain regions in response to chronic pain, the time course of changes in electrophysiological properties of S1/ACC neurons during the development and maintenance of CNP were studied. We longitudinally recorded S1/ACC single-unit activity and responses to Von Frey stimulation before and up to 1 month after Spared Nerve Injury (SNI) in awake behaving rats. Our experiments revealed increases in spontaneous firing, evoked firing, and bursting activity in S1 and ACC that persisted for up to a month and coincided with the development of mechanical hypersensitivity in the hindpaws. Next, we assessed whether abnormal S1 and ACC hyperactivity would be reduced to pre-injury baselines during administration of gabapentin analgesia. We report that gabapentin reversed spontaneous and synchronized firing in ACC, abnormal bursting in S1, and mechanical hypersensitivity. These results reveal that S1 and ACC neurons exhibit temporally distinct alterations in spiking activity during the development and maintenance phases of CNP. Strategies aimed at reducing S1 and ACC hyperactivity may alleviate sensory and emotional suffering that accompanies neuropathic pain.
Metrics
81 File views/ downloads
26 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Primary somatosensory and anterior cingulate single-unit activity after peripheral nerve injury and gabapentin analgesia
- Creators
- Mitchell Aloysius David Nothem
- Contributors
- James E. Barrett (Advisor)Paul McGonigle (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xi, 131 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Medicine; Pharmacology and Physiology; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991014856045504721