Cat's medullary reticulospinal and subnucleus reticularis dorsalis noxious neurons form a coupled neural circuit through collaterals of descending axons.

Animals and human beings sense and react to real/potential dangerous stimuli. However, the supraspinal mechanisms relating noxious sensing and nocifensive behavior are mostly unknown. The collateralization and spatial organization of interrelated neurons are important determinants of coordinated network function.

Electrophysiological study of supraspinal input and spinal output of cat's subnucleus reticularis dorsalis (SRD) neurons.

This work addressed the study of subnucleus reticularis dorsalis (SRD) neurons in relation to their supraspinal input and the spinal terminating sites of their descending axons. SRD extracellular unitary recordings from anesthetized cats aimed to specifically test, 1) the rostrocaudal segmental level reached by axons of spinally projecting (SPr) neurons collateralizing or not to or through the ipsilateral nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis (NRGc), 2) whether SPr fibers bifurcate to the thalamus, and 3) the effects exerted on SRD cells by electrically stimulating the locus coeruleus, the periaqueductal grey, the nucleus raphe magnus, and the mesencephalic locomotor region. From a total of 191 SPr fibers tested to cervical 2 (Ce2), thoracic 5 (Th5) and lumbar5 (Lu5) stimulation, 81 ended between Ce2 and Th5 with 39 of them branching to or through the NRGc; 21/49 terminating between Th5 and Lu5 collateralized to or through the same nucleus, as did 34/61 reaching Lu5.

Processing afferent proprioceptive information at the main cuneate nucleus of anesthetized cats.

Medial lemniscal activity decreases before and during movement, suggesting prethalamic modulation, but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Here we studied the mechanisms underlying proprioceptive transmission at the midventral cuneate nucleus (mvCN) of anesthetized cats using standard extracellular recordings combined with electrical stimulation and microiontophoresis. Dual simultaneous recordings from mvCN and rostroventral cuneate (rvCN) proprioceptive neurons demonstrated that microstimulation through the rvCN recording electrode induced dual effects on mvCN projection cells: potentiation when both neurons had excitatory receptive fields in muscles acting at the same joint, and inhibition when rvCN and mvCN cells had receptive fields located in different joints.

Processing noxious information at the subnucleus reticularis dorsalis (SRD) of anesthetized cats: wind-up mechanisms.

With the exception of one monkey's study, where wind-up was not reported, electrophysiological data from SRD neurons were obtained in rodents where they show wind-up. This work was designed to examine the response properties of SRD neurons in anesthetized cats to study how general the data from rats may be. Since cat's SRD cells showed wind-up, its underlying mechanisms were approached, an issue not previously addressed at supraspinal level.

Cortical modulation of dorsal column nuclei: a computational study.

We present a computational study aimed at exploring the sensorimotor cortex modulation of the behaviour of dorsal column nuclei, specifically the impact of synaptic parameters, during both sleep and waking conditions. On the basis of the circuit proposed by Canedo et al. (2000), we have developed realistic computational models that have been tested with simultaneous electrocorticographic as well as intracellular cuneate recordings performed in anaesthetized cats.

Intracuneate mechanisms underlying primary afferent cutaneous processing in anaesthetized cats.

The cutaneous primary afferents from the upper trunk and forelimbs reach the medial cuneate nucleus in their way towards the cerebral cortex. The aim of this work was twofold: (i) to study the mechanisms used by the primary afferents to relay cutaneous information to cuneate cuneolemniscal (CL) and noncuneolemniscal (nCL) cells, and (ii) to determine the intracuneate mechanisms leading to the elaboration of the output signal by CL cells. Extracellular recordings combined with microiontophoresis demonstrated that the primary afferent cutaneous information is communicated to CL and nCL cells through AMPA, NMDA and kainate receptors.

A computational model of cuneothalamic projection neurons.

The dorsal column nuclei, cuneatus and gracilis, play a fundamental role in the processing and integration of somesthetic ascending information. Intracellular and patch-clamp recordings obtained in cat in vivo have shown that cuneothalamic projection neurons present two modes of activity: oscillatory and tonic (Canedo et al 1998 Neuroscience 84 603-17). The former is the basis of generating, in sleep and anaesthetized states, slow, delta and spindle rhythms under the control of the cerebral cortex (Mariño et al 2000 Neuroscience 95 657-73).

New corticocuneate cellular mechanisms underlying the modulation of cutaneous ascending transmission in anesthetized cats.

The ascending cutaneous transmission through the middle cuneate nucleus is subject to cortico-feedback modulation. This work studied the intracuneate cellular mechanisms underlying the corticocuneate influence. Single unit extracellular records combined with iontophoresis showed that the corticocuneate input activates cuneo-lemniscal (CL) and noncuneo-lemniscal (nCL) cells via N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA receptors as shown by the decrease of the cortical-induced activation on ejection of CNQX and APV, either alone or in combination.

Sensorimotor Integration at the Dorsal Column Nuclei.

Interaction among primary afferents, corticofugal fibers, and intrinsic elements allows for sensorimotor integration at the dorsal column nuclei. The interneurons permit the spatial localization, the recurrent collaterals synchronize the activity of projecting cells with overlapping receptive fields, and the corticofugal fibers induce a central zone of activity surrounded by a peripheral zone of inhibition.