Volume 29, Issue 3
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.755
Study on Sympathetic Nerve Pain Conduction during Discogenic Low Back
Abstract
Objective: To explore the functions of the sympathetic nerves during discogenic low back pain. Method: Adult Wistar rats were divided into three groups: in one group, the sympathetic nerve fiber was preserved; in the second group, the sympathetic nerve fiber was severed; and in the third group, the sympathetic nerve fiber was preserved on one side and severed on the other side. Sections of the spinal ganglion samples from all rats were subject to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) retrograde tracing, retrograde fluorescence double labeling, and immunohistochemical methods for PAP and SP detection.
Result: The number of HRP-positive cells was significantly higher in the sections from samples where the sympathetic nerve was preserved. HRP-positive and SP-positive doubly labeled cells were found in spinal ganglions on both sides. In spinal ganglions on the right side of L2, fluorescence doubly-labeled cells were found, some of which contained calcitonin gene-related peptide.
Conclusion: Discogenic low back pain is a type of referred pain caused by lesions of the lumbar intervertebral disc that is conducted by sympathetic nerves on both sides and mainly implicates (lumbar) areas innervated in segments by the L1 and L2 lumbar nerve posterior ramus. Conduction of pain by sympathetic nerve fibers in the lumbar paravertebral sympathetic trunk is the major mechanism underlying discogenic low back pain.
Keywords
Paravertebral sympathetic trunk, discogenic low back pain, spinal ganglion, referred pain, neuropathic pain.