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Full-Text Articles in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Investigating Mechanisms In Nociceptors Driving Ongoing Activity And Ongoing Pain, Elia Lopez
Investigating Mechanisms In Nociceptors Driving Ongoing Activity And Ongoing Pain, Elia Lopez
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
Ongoing (apparently spontaneous) pain at rest is a major complaint of patients suffering from many forms of acute and chronic pain, including acute and persistent postsurgical pain. Accumulating evidence suggests ongoing activity in nociceptors is a major driver of ongoing pain. Ongoing activity can be generated in sensory neurons in the absence of sensory generator potentials if one or more of three neurophysiological alterations occur – prolonged depolarization of resting membrane potential (RMP), hyperpolarization of action potential (AP) threshold, and/or increased amplitude of depolarizing spontaneous fluctuations of membrane potential (DSFs) to bridge the gap between RMP and AP threshold. Cellular …