• Qi-Yu Chen, Tao Chen, Li-Jun Zhou, Xian-Guo Liu, and Min Zhuo.
• 1 Center for Neuron and Disease, Frontier Institutes of Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
• Mol Pain. 2018 Jan 1; 14: 1744806918798406.

AbstractSpinal nociceptive transmission receives biphasic modulation from supraspinal structures. Recent studies demonstrate that the anterior cingulate cortex facilitates spinal excitatory synaptic transmission and nociceptive reflex. However, whether the top-down descending facilitation can cause long-term synaptic changes in spinal cord remains unclear. In the present study, we recorded C-fiber-evoked field potentials in spinal dorsal horn and found that the anterior cingulate cortex stimulation caused enhancement of C-fiber-mediated responses. The enhancement lasted for more than a few hours. Spinal application of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist D-AP5 abolished this enhancement, suggesting that the activation of the NMDA receptor is required. Furthermore, spinal application of methysergide, a serotonin receptor antagonist, also blocked the anterior cingulate cortex-induced spinal long-term potentiation. Our results suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex stimulation can produce heterosynaptic form of long-term potentiation at the spinal cord dorsal horn, and this novel form of long-term potentiation may contribute to top-down long-term facilitation in chronic pain conditions.

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