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- Title
FROM STIMULUS TO BRAIN CORTEX – ARE WE CLOSER TO UNDERSTANDING THE MYSTERY?
- Authors
Nešić, Dejan M.
- Abstract
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or an experience described in the context of such damage". Nociceptors (pain receptors) are free nerve endings (A-δ (thick myelinated) and C (thin unmyelinated) nerve fibers). The mechanism of the formation of the sensation of pain arises from the integration of four physiological processes: transduction, transmission, perception and modulation. Transduction is the process of converting mechanical, thermal or chemical stimuli into an electrical stimulus. That is, algogenic substances change the permeability of the membrane of nociceptive endings for ions, there is a depolarization of the membrane and the formation of a receptor and later an action potential. Pain transmission is the process of transmitting painful impulses, i.e. generated action potentials from nociceptors to the spinal cord and brain. Transmission refers to the transmission of pain from irritated nociceptors to the primary and secondary somatosensory fields in the cerebral cortex and limbic system. Pain perception is the subjective experience of pain. The primary and secondary somatosensory cortex are responsible for the conscious perception and characteristics of pain in the form of its localization, intensity and duration of pain. The limbic system is involved in the emotional-affective component of pain perception. The perception of pain is actually the result of the neural activity of different centers in the brain that participate in the localization, processing and interpretation of painful sensations. Through perception, pain becomes a conscious experience and acquires an affective-motivational, emotional and behavioral component. In this process, the degree of attention, anxiety, fear, previous experience of the individual and expectations play a significant role. Threshold of pain receptor stimulation and pain tolerance are important for pain perception. Pain modulation is an activity that controls the process of pain signal transmission. Pain modulation refers to the inhibitory effect of descending pathways of pain control on neurons of the posterior horns of the spinal cord. The endogenous analgesia system modulates pain, which consequently affects the perception of pain.
- Subjects
NOCICEPTORS; PAIN perception; LIMBIC system; NERVE endings; ACTION potentials; STIMULUS &; response (Psychology); PAIN
- Publication
Acta Medica Medianae, 2022, Vol 61, p23
- ISSN
0365-4478
- Publication type
Article