Visceral Nociception and Pain
Definition
Visceral Nociception and Pain originates from body organs. Visceral nociceptors are located within body organs and internal cavities. The relative scarcity of nociceptors in these areas results in a pain that is often of a vague cramping/aching quality, diffuse, poorly localised and of a longer duration than somatic pain.
Characteristics
To date most fundamental basic scientific research has focused on somatic pain rather than visceral pain states. In part, this is due to the relative ease with which somatic pain can be evoked in both animal and human volunteer models. Despite this, visceral pain is an important clinical problem, which differs from somatic nociception in many fundamental respects.
Phylogenetically, somatic and visceral nociceptive processes subserve different biological functions and thus it is unsurprising that the systems respond to different stimuli. Mechanical and thermal stimuli, which have been demonstrated to evoke somatic nociceptive responses...
References
- 1.Al-Chaer ED, Feng Y, Willis WD (1998) A role for the dorsal column in nociceptive visceral input into the thalamus of primates. J Neurophysiol 79:3143–3150Google Scholar
- 2.Aziz Q, Thompson DG, Ng VWK et al. (2000) Cortical Processing of human somatic and visceral sensation. J Neurosci 20:2657–63Google Scholar
- 3.Beaulieu P, Rice ASC (2003) Applied Physiology of Nociception. In: Rowbotham DJ, Macintyre PE (eds) Clinical Pain Management: Acute Pain. Oxford University Press Inc, New YorkGoogle Scholar
- 4.Cervero F (1994) Sensory innervation of the viscera: Peripheral basis of visceral pain. Physiol Rev 75:95–134Google Scholar
- 5.Gebhart GF (1995) Visceral Pain. In: Gebhard GF (ed) Progress in Pain Research and Management, vol 5. IASP Press, SeattleGoogle Scholar
- 6.Houghton AK, Wang CC, Westlund KN (2001) Do nociceptive signals from the pancreas travel in the dorsal column? Pain 89:207–20Google Scholar
- 7.Laird JMA, Olivar T, Lopez-Garcia JA et al. (2001) Responses of rat spinal neurons to distension of inflamed colon: role of tachykinin NK2 receptors. Neuropharmacology 40:696–701Google Scholar
- 8.Laird JMA, Olivar T, Roza C et al. (2000) Deficits of visceral pain and hyperalgesia of mice with a disruption of the tachykinin NK1 receptor gene. Neuroscience 98:345–52Google Scholar
- 9.McMahon SB (1994) Mechanisms of cutaeous deep and visceral pain. In: Wall PD, Melzack R (eds) Textbook of Pain. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, pp 129–151Google Scholar
- 10.McMahon SB, Dmitrieva N, Koltzenberg M (1995) Visceral pain. Br J Anaesth 75:132–44Google Scholar
- 11.Treede R-D, Kenshalo DR, Gracely RH et al. (1999) The cortical representation of pain. Pain 79:105–11Google Scholar