Differential reactions of neurons in the rat raphe magnus and dorsal raphe nuclei to visceral and somatic pain signals
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2687-1270-2023-4-3-312-323Keywords:
raphe nuclei, visceral pain, somatic pain, c-fos expression, neuronal activityAbstract
The key structures of the brain serotonergic system involved in the mechanisms of pain regulation are the raphe magnus (RMg) and dorsal raphe (DR) nuclei. Some studies have demonstrated dissimilar effects of visceral and somatic pain stimuli on the neuronal activity of these nuclei. This suggests differences in the local mechanisms of visceral and somatic pain processing. However, to date, no one has specifically studied these mechanisms. The aim of our experiments on anesthetized male Wistar rats was comparative evaluation of RMg and DR neuronal responses to visceral (colorectal distension) and somatic (tail squeezing) noxious stimulations. The study was performed using c-fos immunohistochemistry and extracellular microelectrode recording of neuronal impulse activity. In both structures, the distributions of c-fos-synthesizing cells activated by different stimuli coincided, however, somatic stimulation-reactive neurons contained larger cellular nuclei. Based on response properties, RMg and DR nociceptive neurons were divided into three groups: 1) responding with activation only to colorectal distension (visceral); 2) excited only by tail squeezing (somatic); 3) activated by both stimuli (general). DR contained a larger number of visceral nociceptive cells than RMg, with smaller proportion of somatic cells. However, in both nuclei, general nociceptive neurons showed more pronounced responses to somatic stimulation than to visceral one, and somatic cell reactions to tail squeezing were more intense than colorectal distension-evoked visceral neuron responses. The obtained data indicate that RMg and DR contain morphologically and functionally distinct neuronal populations that can selectively respond to visceral or somatic pain stimuli, thus contributing to the pain type-specific activity of serotonergic system.
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