Figure 1.

Illustration of the route followed by the nociceptive transmission from the peripheral nerves to the CNS after the initial reception of the harmful stimulus during a bullfight (i.e., placing of the banderillas). The process includes transformation of the harmful stimulus into an electrical impulse generated by nociceptors in the skin and muscles that generate the aperture of Ca²⁺, K⁺, or Na⁺ ionic channels to create the electrical impulses that travel through neuronal axons to carry the nociceptive signal to the spinal cord. In this process, information is transmitted through two primary afferent nociceptive neurons called Aδ and C fibres to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and is then projected by electrical impulses and brainstem to the thalamus, reticular formation, and cerebral cortex, where the pain is perceived.