5-HT1A Receptors Mediate the Effect of the Bulbospinal Serotonin System on Spinal Dorsal Horn Nociceptive Neurons

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Abstract
The present study examined whether the effect of stimulation of the nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) is mediated by spinal cord dorsal horn serotonin1A (5-HT1A) receptors in the rat. This hypothesis predicts that nociceptive dorsal horn units inhibited by NRM stimulation or iontophoretic 5-HT application would also be inhibited by iontophoresis of the selective 5-HT1A agonists 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) and buspirone. A total of 78 dorsal horn wide-dynamic-range neurons were recorded. Overall, 62% of the cells tested (48/78) were responsive to electrical stimulation of the NRM with the predominant response being inhibitory (38/48; 79%). Fifty-eight cells were tested for their response to both NRM stimulation and 8-OH-DPAT iontophoresis: 20/58 cells were inhibited by NRM stimulation and 50% of the cells inhibited by NRM stimulation were also inhibited by 8-OH-DPAT. Fifty-two cells were tested for their response to both NRM stimulation and buspirone iontophoresis: 14/52 cells were inhibited by NRM stimulation with 9/14 similarly inhibited by buspirone. To examine whether exogenously applied serotonin produced an effect through 5-HT1A receptors, the effect of both 5-HT and 8-OH-DPAT iontophoresis was tested on 57 dorsal horn neurons. The majority of cells (25/57) were inhibited by 5-HT application; 15/25 were similarly inhibited by 8-OH-DPAT. The response of 48 dorsal horn cells to 5-HT and buspirone iontophoresis was compared. Forty-four percent (21/48) of the cells were inhibited by 5-HT; 16/21 were also inhibited by buspirone. The present data support the hypothesis that 5-HT1A receptors mediate the inhibitory effect of the NRM descending 5-HT pathway on spinal pain transmission. These results are surprising in that 5-HT1A receptors represent approximately 25–35% of dorsal horn 5-HT receptors and that the 5-HT system is only one of several descending bulbospinal pathways arising from the NRM.

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