Modeling the daily rhythm of human pain processing in the dorsal horn.

ABSTRACT: Experimental studies show that human pain sensitivity varies across the 24-hour day, with the lowest sensitivity usually occurring during the afternoon. Patients suffering from neuropathic pain, or nerve damage, experience an inversion in the daily modulation of pain sensitivity, with the highest sensitivity usually occurring during the early afternoon. Processing of painful stimulation occurs in the dorsal horn (DH), an area of the spinal cord that receives input from peripheral tissues via several types of primary afferent nerve fibers. The DH circuit is composed of different populations of neurons, including excitatory and inhibitory interneurons, and projection neurons, which constitute the majority of the output from the DH to the brain. In this work, we develop a mathematical model o

SUBMITTER: Crodelle J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6622484 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature