Dong W K, Ryu H, Wagman I H
Fed Proc. 1978 Jul;37(9):2228-33.
Anatomical studies have shown that fibers of the spinothalamic tract terminate in both the posterior group of nuclei (PO) and the nuclei of the medial thalamus. Only the PO receives fiber terminations from the spinocervicothalamic and dorsal column-medial lemniscal projections. This difference in connectively is reflected in the functional differences between the neurons in the PO and those in the medial thalamus. Although both PO and medial thalamus contain a large proportion of nociceptive neurons, only the PO contains neurons that have "lemniscal" response properties. Lesion studies have demonstrated the importance of the spinothalamic tract in mediating A and C fiber input to nociceptive neurons in the PO and medial thalamus. These studies showed that the nociceptive neurons in PO also receive A fiber input from the dorsal column-medial lemniscal projection and A and C fiber input from the spinocervicothalamic projection.
解剖学研究表明，脊髓丘脑束的纤维终止于后核群（PO）和丘脑内侧核。只有PO接收来自脊髓颈丘脑和背柱-内侧丘系投射的纤维终末。这种连接方式的差异反映在PO和丘脑内侧核神经元的功能差异上。虽然PO和丘脑内侧核都含有很大比例的伤害性神经元，但只有PO含有具有“丘系”反应特性的神经元。损伤研究已经证明脊髓丘脑束在介导A纤维和C纤维输入到PO和丘脑内侧核的伤害性神经元中的重要性。这些研究表明，PO中的伤害性神经元也接收来自背柱-内侧丘系投射的A纤维输入以及来自脊髓颈丘脑投射的A纤维和C纤维输入。
