Characteristics of the bursting pattern of action potentials that occurs in the thalamus of patients with central pain

Frederick A. Lenz, Hon C. Kwan, Jonathan O. Dostrovsky, Ronald R. Tasker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

239 Scopus citations

Abstract

Neurons in the somatosensory thalamus of patients with central pain following spinal cord injury fire in bursts of action potentials more frequently than do similar neurons in patients without pain. Furthermore, the characteristic firing pattern within these bursts is similar to that which is shown to be associated with the occurence of calcium spikes in intracellular studies of thalamic nuclei. This finding may have significant implications for the etiology and treatment of central pain states.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)357-360
Number of pages4
JournalBrain research
Volume496
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 4 1989

Keywords

  • Action potential burst
  • Calcium
  • Human thalamus
  • Nervous system plasticity
  • Pain
  • Slow wave sleep
  • Spinal cord injury

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • Molecular Biology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Developmental Biology

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