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Responses of Solitary Tract Nucleus Neurons to Nociceptive Stimuli of the Large Intestine in Rats

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Immunohistochemical and neurophysiological experiments on rats were performed to study the responses of solitary tract nucleus neurons to nociceptive stimulation of the large intestine and to identify the role of nitric oxide in these processes. Nociceptive distension of the colorectal part of the intestine was found to induce significant increases in the level of expression of c-fos proteins, mainly in the medial, commissural, parvocellular, and dorsomedial subnuclei of the solitary tract. Neurophysiological experiments showed that non-painful colorectal distension induced mild excitatory responses in cells in these structures, these being exclusively of the phasic type. Painful stimulation of the intestine was accompanied by significant increases in the responses of these neurons and activation of neurons with tonic responses. Blockade of neuronal NO synthase led to significant decreases in neuron responses to nociceptive distension of the intestine and the number of cells with tonic responses. It is suggested that neurons with NO-dependent tonic responses may be directly associated with the transmission of pain information from the large intestine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. I. P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 6 Makarov Bank, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia

    S. S. Panteleev, A. A. Martseva & O. A. Lyubashina

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  1. S. S. Panteleev
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  2. A. A. Martseva
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  3. O. A. Lyubashina
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Correspondence to S. S. Panteleev.

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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 97, No. 12, pp. 1336–1345, December, 2011.

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Panteleev, S.S., Martseva, A.A. & Lyubashina, O.A. Responses of Solitary Tract Nucleus Neurons to Nociceptive Stimuli of the Large Intestine in Rats. Neurosci Behav Physi 43, 775–781 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-013-9808-y

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