TY - JOUR
T1 - Peripheral nerve injury triggers central sprouting of myelinated afferents
AU - Woolf, Clifford J.
AU - Shortland, Peter
AU - Coggeshall, Richard E.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1992
Y1 - 1992
N2 - THE central terminals of primary afferent neurons are topographically highly ordered in the spinal cord1. Peripheral receptor sensitivity is reflected by dorsal horn laminar location: low-threshold mechanoreceptors terminate in laminae III and IV (refs 2, 3) and high-threshold nociceptors in laminae I, II and V (refs 4, 5). Unmyelinated C fibres, most of which are nociceptors6, terminate predominantly in lamina II (refs 5,7). There is therefore an anatomical framework for the transfer of specific inputs to localized subsets of dorsal horn neurons. This specificity must contribute to the relationship between a low-intensity stimulus and an innocuous sensation and a noxious stimulus and pain. We now show that after peripheral nerve injury the central terminals of axotomized myelinated afferents, including the large Aβ fibres, sprout into lamina II. This structural reorganization in the adult central nervous system may contribute to the development of the pain mediated by A-fibres that can follow nerve lesions in humans8,9.
AB - THE central terminals of primary afferent neurons are topographically highly ordered in the spinal cord1. Peripheral receptor sensitivity is reflected by dorsal horn laminar location: low-threshold mechanoreceptors terminate in laminae III and IV (refs 2, 3) and high-threshold nociceptors in laminae I, II and V (refs 4, 5). Unmyelinated C fibres, most of which are nociceptors6, terminate predominantly in lamina II (refs 5,7). There is therefore an anatomical framework for the transfer of specific inputs to localized subsets of dorsal horn neurons. This specificity must contribute to the relationship between a low-intensity stimulus and an innocuous sensation and a noxious stimulus and pain. We now show that after peripheral nerve injury the central terminals of axotomized myelinated afferents, including the large Aβ fibres, sprout into lamina II. This structural reorganization in the adult central nervous system may contribute to the development of the pain mediated by A-fibres that can follow nerve lesions in humans8,9.
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U2 - 10.1038/355075a0
DO - 10.1038/355075a0
M3 - Article
C2 - 1370574
AN - SCOPUS:0026555273
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 355
SP - 75
EP - 78
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 6355
ER -