Figure 5.

In an asymmetrical degenerate nociceptive terminal tree, an increased number of stimulated terminals facilitates nociceptive response. A, Scheme depicting the model of the degenerate binary trees of different complexities determined by the number of bifurcation stages (n_l; see Materials and Methods), which defines the number of terminal branches. B, Responses detected at the central terminal following stimulation of either single terminal branch (yellow), pair of adjacent terminal branches (purple) and all terminals (blue) by a capsaicin-like current (depicted below the traces) applied to the representative n_l = 3, n_l = 5, and n_l = 7 trees. C, The number of APs plotted as a function of the number of bifurcation stages, following stimulation of a single terminal branch (yellow), pair of adjacent terminal branches (purple) and all terminals (blue) by a capsaicin-like current. D, Instantaneous discharge frequencies following stimulation with a capsaicin-like current (shown below) applied to all terminals of the trees of different complexity (n_l). Inset, Instantaneous peak frequency (color coded as in D).