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The Journal of Neuroscience, October 15, 1999, 19(20):9063-9072

Ventromedial Thalamic Neurons Convey Nociceptive Signals from the Whole Body Surface to the Dorsolateral Neocortex

Lénaïc Monconduit, Laurence Bourgeais, Jean-François Bernard, Daniel Le Bars, and Luis Villanueva

Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U-161, 75014, Paris, France

The somatosensory properties of ventromedial (VM) thalamic neurons were investigated in anesthetized rats by examining their responses to calibrated cutaneous stimuli. A population of neurons within the lateral part of the ventromedial thalamus (VMl) showed two peaks of activation after percutaneous electrical stimuli, regardless of which part of the body was stimulated. The early and late peaks were elicited by A- and C-fiber activities with mean conduction velocities of 12.9 ± 0.9 and 1 ± 0.2 m/sec, respectively. These responses were strongly depressed or blocked after microinjections within the medullary subnucleus reticularis dorsalis of xylocaine or the NMDA antagonist MK-801. None of the VMl neurons responded to innocuous cutaneous or proprioceptive stimuli. In contrast, all these neurons responded to noxious mechanical and thermal stimulation of the limbs and showed monotonic increases in their discharges to increasingly strong noxious cutaneous stimuli. In addition, some VMl neurons were antidromically activated by stimulation in layer I of the dorsolateral frontal cortex. These findings suggest that the rat VMl conveys and encodes cutaneous nociceptive inputs from any part of the body surface to layer I of the dorsolateral neocortex. This reticulo-thalamo-cortical network may allow any signal of pain to gain access to widespread areas of the neocortex and thus help prime the cortex for attentional reactions and/or the coordination of motor responses.

Key words: ventromedial thalamus; neocortex; brainstem reticular formation; pain; premotor, dorsal horn

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Copyright © 1999 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/99/19209063-10$05.00/0

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Monconduit, A. Lopez-Avila, J.-L. Molat, M. Chalus, and L. Villanueva Corticofugal Output from the Primary Somatosensory Cortex Selectively Modulates Innocuous and Noxious Inputs in the Rat Spinothalamic System. J. Neurosci., August 15, 2006; 26(33): 8441 - 8450. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Bourgeais, L. Monconduit, L. Villanueva, and J.-F. Bernard Parabrachial Internal Lateral Neurons Convey Nociceptive Messages from the Deep Laminas of the Dorsal Horn to the Intralaminar Thalamus J. Neurosci., March 15, 2001; 21(6): 2159 - 2165. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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