Progress in neurobiology
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Progress in neurobiology · Sep 2008
ReviewNociceptive behavior in animal models for peripheral neuropathy: spinal and supraspinal mechanisms.
Since the initial description by Wall [Wall, P. D., 1967. The laminar organization of dorsal horn and effects of descending impulses. ⋯ In particular, the review emphasizes the importance of the reciprocal interconnections between the analgesic areas of the brainstem and the pain-related areas of the forebrain. The latter includes the cerebral limbic areas, the prefrontal cortex, the intralaminar thalamus and the hypothalamus and play a critical role in the control of pain considered as part of an integrated behavior related to emotions and various homeostatic regulations. We finally speculate that neuropathic pain, like extrapyramidal motor syndromes, reflects a disorder in the processing of somatosensory information.