Publisher's Synopsis
This book is primarily concerned with the basic neurobiological mechanisms which mediate the sensory/discriminative aspects of pain. Pain is viewed as a specific sense, and the elements comprising this sensory system are described in physiological, anatomical and neurochemical terms. The types and response properties of primary afferent neurons involved in pain from the body and face are reviewed as well as their connections in the spinal cord and trigeminal nuclei. The neurophysiology and neuroanatomy of the spinal cord cells encoding pain are also discussed.;A novel theory on the function of the trigeminal nuclear complex in intraoral pain is presented together with some previously unpublished data detailing the terminations of nociceptors from the face. Finally, a thorough review of the many higher brain centres which can control nociceptive inputs to many pain centres is provided with critical analyses of their importance during normal behaviour.
