Figure 6.

Neural pathway for pain. Noxious stimuli trigger nociceptors to “transduce” signals which then travel via the PNS to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, where they synapse with higher-order neurons. Impulses are then “transmitted” via the neurons that ascend to the thalamus and branches to the brainstem nuclei. Some of the brainstem nuclei send descending impulses to the dorsal horn that causes inhibition of nociception. Multiple inputs are integrated by various parts of the brain (somatosensory cortex, insula, frontal lobes and limbic system) to create the “perception” of pain in a conscious individual. © 2017 by Dhairya Patel, based on Pain Management Curriculum for Resident Physicians Module 2010, University of Wisconsin System.