Membrane properties of physiologically classified rat dorsal horn neurons in vitro: correlation with cutaneous sensory afferent input.

Dorsal horn neurons in the young rat spinal cord-hindlimb preparation were physiologically classified as wide dynamic range (WDR), nociceptive specific (NS) or low threshold (LT) according to their excitatory responses to low and high intensity mechanical stimuli applied to the hindlimb skin. Two additional types were classified: neurons displaying only sub-threshold excitations (SUB) and neurons displaying inhibitory events (INH), such as inhibitory post-synaptic potentials or interruption of spontaneous spiking following cutaneous stimulation. Direct intracellular current injection revealed four different patterns of spiking behaviour: group A neurons were characterized by tonic firing in response to depolarizing current pulses; group B neurons were strongly phasic, producing only one spike at the beginning of the pulse; group A-B neurons generated an early unsustained (< 300 ms) burst of spikes; and group C neurons exhibited anomalous rectification in response to hyperpolarizing current which was followed by a voltage-dependent rebound excitation. A statistically significant (P < or = 0.01) association existed between a neuron's physiological classification and its electrophysiological profile. The majority of WDR neurons responded with tonic firing and were assigned to group A, while NS neurons were strongly represented in group A-B. All INH neurons were assigned to group C. LT neurons were distributed between groups A and A-B, and SUB neurons were distributed between groups A and B. These data indicate, firstly, that dorsal horn neurons possess heterogeneous membrane properties and, secondly, that a relationship exists between a neuron's biophysical profile and its excitatory or inhibitory response to peripheral cutaneous afferent stimulation. The implications for dorsal horn somatosensory processing are discussed.