Abstract
The supraspinal inhibitory control of lumbar spinal dorsal horn neurones was investigated in N 2O-anaesthetized cats by reversibly blocking conduction in the spinal cord. Dorsal horn neurones selected for this study had convergent input from myelinated (A-) and unmyelinated (C-) fibres in the posterior tibial and/or superficial peroneal nerves of the hind limb. Virtually all of them could also be excited by noxious heating of the skin of the footpad region and by low intensity mechanical stimulation of the foot. Variation of the temperature of noxious radiant skin heating (40–56°C, 10 sec in duration) resulted in graded responses of the neurones. The stimulus-response functions (SRF) were monotonie; in the majority of 32 cases they were linear. Neurones could be classified according to their maximum discharge frequency in response to skin heating into 22 weakly sensitive units (responses below 100 Hz at 50°C) and 10 highly sensitive units (above 100 Hz). Responses outlasted the period of skin heating by seconds to minutes.
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