Bilateral lesions of the dorsolateral funiculus of the cat spinal cord: effects on basal nociceptive reflexes and nociceptive suppression produced by cholinergic activation of the pontine parabrachial region.

In cats, bilateral microinjections of the cholinergic agonist, carbachol (0.6 micrograms in 0.2 microliter), into an area surrounding the lateral half of the brachium conjunctivum (BC) produces a non-narcotic suppression of nociceptive responses, as assessed by flexion reflexes (tail-flick and calibrated pinch tests). Bilateral lesions of the dorsolateral funiculi (DLF) of the thoracic spina cord (T2) significantly reduced the magnitude of this nociceptive suppression. Nociceptive suppression following carbachol microinjections into sites along the dorsal aspect of BC was reduced by DLF lesions to a greater degree than nociceptive suppression following injections into sites within or ventral to BC. Relatively superficial DLF lesions produced reductions in nociceptive suppression which were equivalent to reductions induced by deeper lesions. DLF lesions, either superficial or deep, produced equivalent, reliable decreases in tail-flick test assessments of baseline nociceptive thresholds. The magnitude of decreases in baseline nociceptive thresholds produced by DLF lesions was not correlated with the magnitude of reduction of carbachol-induced suppression of nociceptive responses, indicating that DLF lesions suppress anti-nociception independent of baseline alterations. These data suggest that non-narcotic analgesia produced by cholinergic activation of cells along the dorsal aspect of BC may be predominantly mediated by fibers descending within the DLF. However, results of the retrograde horseradish peroxidase (HRP) tracing studies reported in the present investigation indicate that this pain suppression is probably mediated by polysynaptic pathways since this region dorsal to BC projects neither through DLF nor extra-DLF pathways. Retrograde HRP data show that areas ventral to and including BC projects to the cord via both DLF and extra-DLF pathways. Since DLF lesions were less effective in reducing analgesia attained from ventral compared to dorsal sites, spinal pathways other than DLF may mediate reflex suppression following carbachol microinjection into these more ventral sites. Possible cholinergic contributions to endogenous, non-opiate forms of analgesia are discussed.