Signalling of a step-like intensity change of noxious mechanical stimuli by dorsal horn neurones in the rat spinal cord.

1. Single-unit extracellular recordings were made from thirty-one dorsal horn neurones in the sacral spinal cord of barbiturate-anaesthetized rats. Each neurone was tested with four noxious mechanical pinches applied to its receptive field on the tail. Each pinch lasted 120 s, with a step-like change in intensity after 60 s. In two pinches the step increased the intensity, from 4 to 6 N or from 6 to 8 N, and in two the step decreased the intensity, from 8 to 6 N or from 6 to 4 N. 2. The ability of the neurones to signal these step changes in intensity was examined. Five neurones with an exclusively low-threshold afferent input (class 1) were tested, and found to fire only briefly at the start of the 120 s stimulus. Neurones with a high-threshold input (nociceptive neurones), either exclusively (class 3; n = 10) or in addition to a low-threshold input (class 2: n = 16), responded throughout the 120 s stimuli. 3. Nociceptive dorsal horn neurones have been divided into two groups of 'good' and 'poor' encoders on the basis of their response to the step changes in intensity. 4. 'Good' encoders (n = 13) were neurones signalling both a step increase and a step decrease in intensity, of which seven were class 2 and six class 3, five recorded in the superficial dorsal horn and eight in the deep dorsal horn. 5. 'Poor' encoders (n = 13) were neurones which failed to signal one or both of the step changes in intensity, of which nine were class 2 and four class 3, three recorded in the superficial dorsal horn and ten in the deep dorsal horn. 6. These results demonstrate that neurones with similar input properties and location are not necessarily a homogeneous group in terms of their processing of nociceptive stimuli. Moreover, they suggest that subgroups of both class 2 and class 3 and of superficial and deep dorsal horn neurones contribute to the different components of a nociceptive response. 7. We propose that the output and projection target of a particular dorsal horn neurone are more important than its afferent input in determining its role in nociceptive processing.