The descending-pain modulating circuit controls the experience of pain by modulating
transmission of sensory signals through the dorsal horn. This circuit's key output node, the …

The sensory experience of pain depends not only on the transmission of noxious information
(nociception), but on the state of the body in a biological, psychological, and social milieu. A …

The rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) is a bulbospinal nuclei in the descending pain
modulation system, and directly affects spinal nociceptive transmission through …

Nerve injury can lead to mechanical hypersensitivity in both humans and animal models,
such that innocuous touch produces pain. Recent functional studies have demonstrated a …

In this chapter, the authors review their knowledge of the “building blocks” of the descending
modulatory system within the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) and focuses on …

Clinical therapies for chronic pain are limited. While targeted drugs are promising therapies
for chronic pain, they exhibit insufficient efficacy and poor targeting. The occurrence of …

Pain thresholds are, in part, set as a function of emotional and internal states by descending
modulation of nociceptive transmission in the spinal cord. Neurons of the rostral …

Brainstem structures engage descending facilitatory and inhibitory neurones to potentiate or
suppress the passage of sensory inputs from spinal loci to the brain. The final output for this …

Descending input from the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) provides positive and
negative modulation of spinal nociceptive transmission and has been proposed to be critical …

The dorsal horn of the spinal cord is the location of the first synapse in pain pathways, and
as such, offers a very powerful target for regulation of nociceptive transmission by both local …