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Washington University in St. Louis
Analgesia, Descending Modulation, Nociception, Optogenetics, Periaqueductal Gray, Rostral Ventromedial Medulla
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Functional And Anatomical Characterization Of Descending Periaqueductal Gray (Pag) Projections And Their Role In Pain Modulation, Jose Gabriel Grajales
Functional And Anatomical Characterization Of Descending Periaqueductal Gray (Pag) Projections And Their Role In Pain Modulation, Jose Gabriel Grajales
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Endogenous analgesic pathways embody a potential target for the development for chronic pain therapies. Previous studies have demonstrated the role of the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) in descending pain modulation. It has been proposed that tonic GABAergic neurotransmission at the level of the vlPAG serves to inhibit efferent excitatory projections that mediate descending analgesia. Disinhibition of these projection neurons allows subsequent activation of rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) neurons that inhibit nociception at the level of the spinal cord. However, lack of cell-type specificity in these studies has prevented the determination of the role of specific subsets of vlPAG neurons in …