Figure 3.

Two separate pathways to higher brain centers are taken by cutaneous and visceral pain information. It is well-known that cutaneous inputs are relayed in the spinal cord onto spinothalamic tract cells that send their axons up the ventrolateral white matter on the opposite side. Recent clinical and basic studies have shown that visceral pain is relayed onto postsynaptic dorsal column cells in the spinal grey midline. Many of these postsynaptic dorsal column neurons send their axons through the dorsal column to relay their information at the dorsal column nuclei. The information travels with the lemniscal system to the thalamus and then to the cortex on the opposite side.