Abstract

Incomplete peripheral nerve injury sometimes results in chronic neuropathic pain such as causalgia. This type of pain is characterized by spontaneous burning pain accompanied by hyperalgesia and allodynia. Hyperalgesia is defined as excessive sensitivity to pain. Allodynia is defined as painful sensation to innocuous stimuli such as touch. One of the salient symptoms of neuropathic pain is mechanical allodynia. To date, it is uncertain whether the signals for mechanical allodynia are conveyed to higher centers via dorsal column-medial lemniscal system or anterolateral system. In the present study, we performed to speculate the ascending pathway(s) of mechanical allodynia through the anatomical, chemical and phy- siological changes of dorsal horn and dorsal column nuclei following peripheral nerve injury. Korean Journal of Headache 2(2):89-98, 2001