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The dorsolateral pontine reticular formation contains noradrenergic pain-inhibiting neurons which project to inhibitory interneurons of the substantia gelatinosa of the posterior grey column in the spinal cord. It thus complements the classical serotonergic-opioid peptide descending pain-inhibiting system: whereas the serotonergic-opioid peptide pathway ultimately pre-synaptically inhibits first-order nociceptive group C neurons, the DLPRF inhibits - by way of presumably GABAergic inhibitory interneurons - the second-order neurons of the ascending pain pathway. The DLPRF pathway is not affected by opioid agonists or antagonists.[1]
| Dorsolateral pontine reticular formation | |
|---|---|
| Anatomical terminology |
See also
edit- Raphespinal tract - the canonical descending pain-inhibiting pathway which the DLPRF functionally complements.
- Reticular formation
References
edit- ^ Patestas, Maria A.; Gartner, Leslie P. (2016). A Textbook of Neuroanatomy (2nd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 224–226. ISBN 978-1-118-67746-9.
- ^ Siegel, J. M. (January 1990). "Mechanisms of Sleep Control". Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology. 7 (1): 49–65. doi:10.1097/00004691-199001000-00005. ISSN 0736-0258. PMC 9044408. PMID 2406284.
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