|
Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences
School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
ISSN: 1394-195X
Vol. 13, Num. 2, 2006, pp. 11-18
|
Malaysian
Journal
of
Medical
Sciences,
Vol.
13,
No.
2,
July
2006,
pp. 11-18
REVIEW ARTICLE
THE
ROLE
OF
THE
THALAMUS
IN
MODULATING
PAIN
Che
Badariah
Ab
Aziz & Asma
Hayati
Ahmad
Department
of
Physiology,
School
of
Medical
Sciences,
Universiti
Sains
Malaysia
16150
Kubang
Kerian,
Kelantan,
Malaysia
Correspondence
: Dr.
Che
Badariah
Ab
Aziz
MBBS
(UM),
MSc
(Physiology)
(USM)
PhD
(University
of
Nottingham,
UK)
Department
of
Physiology
School
of
Medical
Sciences,
Universiti
Sains
Malaysia,
Health
Campus,
16150
Kubang
Kerian,
Kelantan,
Malaysia
Tel
:
+
609-766
4907,
766
4835
Fax
:
+609-765
3370
Email
:
badariah@kb.usm.my
Submitted-20-02-2004,
Accepted-03-12-05
Code
Number:
mj06017
The thalamus is one of the structures that receives projections from multiple ascending pain pathways. The structure is not merely a relay centre but is involved in processing nociceptive information before transmitting the information to various parts of the cortex. The thalamic nuclei are involved in the sensory discriminative and affective motivational components of pain. Generally each group of nucleus has prominent functions in one component for example ventrobasal complex in sensory discriminative component and intralaminar nuclei in affective-motivational component. The thalamus is also part of a network that projects to the spinal cord dorsal horn and modulates ascending nociceptive information. In the animal models of neuropathic pain, changes in the biochemistry, gene expression, thalamic blood flow and response properties of thalamic neurons have been shown. These studies suggest the important contribution of the thalamus in modulating pain in normal and neuropathic pain condition.
Key words : thalamus, pain, electrophysiology, imaging
Is there a role for the thalamus in modulating pain?
The
classic
pain
pathway
as
was
previously
understood
consists
of
a
three-neuron
chain
that
transmits
pain
information
from
the
periphery
to
the
cerebral
cortex
(1).
The
first
order
neuron
has
its
cell
body
in
the
dorsal
root
ganglion
and
two
axons,
one
extending
distally
to
the
tissue
it
innervates
while
the
other
extending
proximally
to
the
dorsal
horn
of
the
spinal
cord
(2).
In
the
dorsal
horn,
this
axon
synapses
with
the
second
order
neuron
which
in
turn
will
cross
the
spinal
cord
through
the
anterior
white
commissure
and
ascends
through
the
lateral
spinothalamic
tract
to
the
thalamus.
In
the
thalamus,
the
second
order
neuron
synapses
with
the
third
order neuron,
which
ascends
through
the
internal
capsule
and
corona
radiata
to
the
postcentral
gyrus
of
the
cerebral
cortex
(1).
This
pathway
is
organized
such
that
within
tracts
and
nuclei
up
to
the
cortex,
topological
relations
are
maintained
and
different
parts
of
the
body
are
represented
in
an
ordered
arrangement
in
the
postcentral
gyrus.
This
arrangement
is
called
somatotopy
(3).
The
pain
pathway
is
now
understood
to
be
a
dual
system
at
each
level
and
the
sensation
of
pain
that
arrives
in
the
central
nervous
system
is
composed
of
the
sensory
discriminative
component
of
pain
(first
pain),
and
the
affective-motivational
component
of
pain
(second
pain),
which
is
carried
separately
(1).
In
addition,
there
are
also
afferents
from
the
spinal
cord
to
pain-mediating
areas
of
the
brain
stem,
local
modulating
circuits
in
the
spinal
cord,
and
descending
pain
pathways
from
the
cortex,
hypothalamus,
and
brain
stem
to
the
spinal
cord
that
make
up
the
descending
facilitation
and
descending
inhibition
of
pain
(4).
The
spinothalamic
pathway that
is
thought
to
be
concerned
with
the
sensory
discriminatory
qualities
of
the
stimulus
originates
primarily
from
neurons
in
the
neck
of
the
dorsal
horn
and
terminates
within
the
ventroposterior
and
ventrobasal
thalamus,
which
then
project
upon
the
cortex
(1).
The
second
pathway
(affectivemotivational),
which
is
more
extensive,
is
derived
mainly
from
lamina
1
neurons
of
the
dorsal
horn
that
express
the
neurokinin
1
(NK1)
receptor
and
terminates
within
the
parabrachial
area
and
periaqueductal
grey.
These
areas
in
turn
project
on
brain
areas
such
as
the
hypothalamus
and
amygdala
that
modulate
the
affective
dimensions
of
pain
and
control
autonomic
activity.
Integration of sensory discriminative, affective motivational and cognitive-evaluative components contributes to the pain response in an individual (5). The sensory discriminative aspects of pain include quality, location and intensity processing (6) while affective-emotional component of pain comprises the unpleasant character of pain perception (7). The cognitive component is involved in the attention, anticipation and memory of past experiences and this component can interact with the other components giving rise to modulation of pain (8). Studies have been conducted to investigate the involvement of supra-spinal structures in pain modulation (9, 10, 11, 12, 13).
The thalamus is one of the supra-spinal structures that has been extensively investigated as it receives projections from multiple ascending pathways. Spinal lamina I neurons project extensively to the ventrobasal complex (ventral posterolateral + ventral posteromedial) and to the posterior group thalamic nuclei (14, 15, 16). The nociceptive neurons from the ventrobasal complex mainly project to the primary somatosensory cortex and this pathway constitutes the lateral pain system that plays an important role in the discrimination of stimuli (6, 17). The affective-motivational aspect of pain is mediated by the medial pain pathway, which includes the intralaminar thalamic nuclei (18) and posterior aspect of ventromedial thalamic nuclei (19) that project to somatosensory cortex and limbic structures (20). The deeper spinal lamina (V/VI) conveys nociceptive messages to the parabrachial internal lateral nucleus that project mainly to the paracentral nucleus (PC) or other intralaminar nuclei (21, 22). The fibers from PC targeted cortical structures e.g. the lateral orbital, lateral agranular and the dorsomedial prefrontal areas (23) that have an important role in cognitive functions, aggressive behaviour and emotional states (24, 25, 26). Neurons originated from lamina VII/VIII project to the medullary reticular formation (27, 28), ventrolateral periaqueductal (29) and intralaminar thalamic nuclei (30). There is extensive projection from the intralaminar nuclei to the cortex, including to the anterior cingulate cortex, subserving the motivational aspects of pain (31). These brain structures including the thalamus are parts of a neural network that are involved in pain modulation that require further investigations to understand the complexity of pain perception.
Electrophysiological studies
The ventral posterolateral (VPL) thalamic nucleus is one of the termination sites for the spinothalamic tract. VPL neurons respond to innocuous and noxious mechanical stimuli and some of the neurons respond to visceral nociception e.g. intraperitoneal injection of bradykinin (32) and uterine distension (33). Electrophysiological studies have reported the excitatory responses of neurons to nociceptive stimulation in (34) other thalamic nuclei including the intralaminar complex (35), nucleus submedius (36), posterior complex (37) and ventromedial thalamus (38). In contrast, nociceptive inputs inhibit a significant proportion of neuronal evoked responses in reticular thalamic nucleus (39) and reticular thalamic (RT) projections to VPL or ventrobasal complex may serve to modulate the ascending information and thus, RT has an important role in processing the sensory information (40).
Studies have shown that VPL nociceptive neurons have restricted receptive fields and precisely encode the intensity of noxious stimuli (32, 41) and these characteristics are consistent with the functions of lateral pain pathway. The nociceptive neurons in other nucleus might have a larger receptive field including the ventromedial nucleus that respond to noxious mechanical and thermal stimulation from any part of the body (42). The ventromedial nociceptive neurons do not respond to innocuous stimuli and these neurons project to widespread areas of the neocortex (42). These fibres might be part of a neural network that is involved in the attentional reactions and/or the coordination of motor responses to pain (19, 42). Another thalamic structure, posterior complex (Po), has a close relationship with the retroinsular cortex and probably has an important role in the motivational affective responses of pain (43). The Po thalamic neurons respond to noxious mechanical stimuli (37) and electrical tooth pulp stimulation (44). It is reported that in cats, some of the neurons have large bilateral receptive field (45) while another report described that of a smaller restrictive field in monkeys (37). The different characteristics of Po neurons might be due to different species used (46) or due to high sensitivity of Po neurons to anaesthetics (47, 48).
There is a large amount of evidence that describe the important contribution of the thalamus to hyperalgesic (increase painful response to noxious stimuli) responses associated with peripheral injury. Studies in rats have shown that following hindpaw inflammation or peripheral nerve injury, ventrobasal (Ventral posterolateral plus ventral posteromedial) thalamic neurons exhibited lowered thresholds and enhanced peripherally-evoked responses (49, 50, 51, 9). At the spinal level, some reports have demonstrated that there were no changes in neural responses following hind paw inflammation (52) and peripheral nerve injury (53, 54) and this suggested that the heightened responses of VPL neurons are not merely due to peripheral sensitization or changes at the spinal level.
Another
thalamic
nucleus
that
receives
considerable
attention
is
the
nucleus
submedius
(Sm).
The
Sm
has
a
close
relationship
with
ventrolateral
orbital
cortex
(VLO)
and
periaqueductal
region
(55,
56,
57)
that
forms
a
part
of
descending
inhibiting
system
(58,
59).
Extracellular
recordings
demonstrated
that
the
Sm
neurons
responded
to
noxious
electrical,
chemical
stimuli
(60),
mechanical
and
thermal
stimuli
(61).
A
few
studies
have
also
reported
that
the
Sm
neurons
respond
to
visceral
stimulation
including
colorectal
balloon
distension
(62;
63)
and
intraperitoneal
injection
of
formalin
or
hypertonic
saline
(60).
The
response
to
noxious
stimuli
can
be
excitatory
or
inhibitory
(60,
61).
The
excitatory
and
inhibitory
evoked
responses
could
be
eliminated
or
depressed
by
intravenous
administration
of
morphine
and
the
effects
could
be
reversed
with
opioid
antagonist,
naloxone
(61).
The
presence
of
two
types
of
cells,
that
is
on
cells
and
off
cells
have
been
reported
in
other
region
e.g.
rostral
ventromedulla
(64,
65)
and
periaqueductal
region
(66).
Reports
have
shown
that
opioid
antinociception
is
mediated
by
inhibition
of
on-cells
and
excitation
of
off-cells
that
activate
the
Sm-VLO-PAG
pathway
that
modulates
nociceptive
inputs
at
spinal
cord
level
(61,
67).
The
modulating
role
of
Sm
is
supported
by
studies
that
show
electrical
stimulation
of
Sm
leads
to
inhibition
of
noxious
evoked
responses
of
dorsal
horn
neurons
(68)
and
depression
of
tail-flick
reflex
in
rats
(69).
Imaging studies
Noxious
stimulation
activates
the
neural
pain
pathway
and
increases
the
neural
activity
in
certain
areas
of
the
brain
and
the
activity
can
be
indicated
by
increases
in
the
regional
cerebral
blood
flow
(CBF)
in
positron
emission
tomography
(PET)
or
blood
oxygen
level
dependent
(BOLD)
signal
in
functional
magnetic
resonance
imaging
(fMRI).
The
changes
in
the
cerebral
blood
flow
are
mediated
by
interaction
of
sympathetic
b-receptors,
ATP
sensitive
potassium
channels
and
the
release
of
nitric
oxide
(70).
Imaging
studies
have
been
widely
used
to
investigate
the
haemodynamic
of
brain
responses
to
pain
in
human
and
animals
(10,
11,
12,
71,
72,
73,
74,
75).
Investigations
on
how
the
brain
structures
contribute
to
the
overall
pain
experience
are
being
conducted
to
improve
understanding
of
nociceptive
processing
in
the
central
nervous
system.
The
functional
imaging
investigation
is
a
reliable
method
to
determine
the
pain
response
in
different
brain
regions
as
signal
intensity
and
activated
areas
are
different
during
noxious
and
innocuous
stimulation
(76).
Furthermore
the
signal
intensity
correlates
parametrically
with
the
pain
response
(77).
The
thalamus
is
one
of
the
areas
activated
as
a
response
to
noxious
stimulation
in
normal
subjects
(78,
79,
80).
Application
of
painful
laser
stimulation
on
human
subjects
produced
greater
activation
in
the
contralateral
primary
somatosensory
cortex
and
thalamus
(81).
Another
report
has
shown
the
functional
association
between
medial
thalamus
and
the
anterior
cingulated
cortex
(ACC).
Electrical
stimulation
of
the
medial
thalamic
nuclei
produced
an
increase
in
the
signal
in
the
anterior
cingulated
cortex
(ACC)
(20)
suggesting
involvement
of
the
medial
thalamus
in
affective-motivational
component
of
pain.
Attention is an aspect of cognitive component of pain and it is well known that distraction during painful stimulation reduces the subjective pain sensation in a subject (82, 83, 84). Attention to a noxious stimulus e.g. thermal, activate a large neural network including the prefrontal, posterior parietal, anterior cingulated cortices and thalamus (85). Distraction from the thermal stimuli significantly increased the activation in posterior part of the insular cortex (86), periaqueductal gray (PAG) and posterior thalamus (8). Valet et al (2004) (8) has suggested that the functional interactions between PAG and the posterior thalamus are likely to be involved in the network of pain modulation.
Involvement of the thalamus in processing and modulating nociceptive information in neuropathic pain has been shown in various imaging studies. In unstimulated rats (basal) cerebral blood flow in multiple thalamic nuclei including the VPL, ventral medial and posterior nuclear group, was increased in neuropathic rats compared to sham-operated rats (73) and this finding is consistent with the spontaneous pain related behaviour exhibited by the neuropathic rats. It is also interesting to note the correlation of pain behaviour e.g. mechanical allodynia, that was maximal for two weeks after the nerve injury, matched the changes of blood flow in ventral lateral and VPL, in neuropathic rats (74). Imaging studies conducted in human supported the role of the thalamus in the development of neuropathic pain (71, 72, 75). Reports demonstrate an enhanced activity in the medial pain pathway, including the medial thalamus and anterior insula, with application of an innocuous thermal stimulus in human subjects presenting with heat allodynia (87, 88). The enhanced activity of the medial thalamus was not seen in subjects who have normal heat pain (87, 88). A different study reported a reduction in thalamic signals in patients with chronic neuropathic pain and this might be related to alteration in the thalamic blood flow and neural activity (89). All these observations are different presentations of the thalamus in neuropathic pain condition and are suggestive of supraspinal plasticity involving the thalamus following peripheral injury.
Other studies
It has been observed from electrophysiological and functional imaging studies that functional changes occur in the thalamus in neuropathic pain condition. The important contribution of the thalamus in neuropathic pain is also supported by other studies including immuno-histochemistry studies. The expression of an early gene, c-fos, is considered as an early marker of long-term functional changes in the neuronal activity. Following noxious stimulation, induction of c-fos expression has been shown in a number of thalamic nuclei e.g. midline nuclei, intralaminar nuclei, paraventricular nucleus and VPL (70, 90, 91). The level of c-fos increased in a few supraspinal regions including the thalamus, frontal cortex and periaqueductal gray four days after sciatic nerve ligation (92). Reorganization of thalamic neurons can be observed within six hours after ligation of sciatic nerve with changes in receptive fields evoked responses to noxious stimuli and the strength of cross-correlation of firing of the thalamic neurons (93). Following peripheral nerve injury, biochemical abnormalities are also reported in the thalamus e.g. reduced serotonin (5-HT) release in the contralateral ventrobasal complex (94) that can reduce the inhibitory input to the spinal cord projections and thalamic relay neurons (95). This will ultimately lead to diminish antinociception or even facilitation of neurons that increases the pain perception.
Studies have shown that NMDA receptors are involved in the somatosensory and nociceptive transmission in the thalamus (95, 96). The NMDA receptors in VPL are important in the development and maintenance of hyperalgesia in the rats (97, 98). Blockade of NMDA receptors in the thalamus reduced nociceptive transmission in neuropathic (98, 99) and normal rats (100). Although NMDA receptor subunits have been found in the medial thalamus (101), its role in mediating nociception in the structure e.g. Sm, has not been proven (102) and requires further investigation.
Conclusion
Studies have suggested that the thalamus is an important structure that mediates different components of pain: sensory discriminative (lateral pain pathway) and affective-motivational (medial pain pathway) components. The thalamus is also involved in the descending inhibition to modulate nociceptive inputs at the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Changes in the biochemistry, immediate early gene expression, thalamic blood flow and the response properties of thalamic neurons have been demonstrated in neuropathic pain models. These data indicate that the thalamus has an important role to play in the modulation of nociception in normal and neuropathic pain syndrome.
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