Changes in synaptic transmission of substantia gelatinosa neurons after spinal cord hemisection revealed by analysis using in vivo patch-clamp recording

BackgroundAfter spinal cord injury, central neuropathic pain develops in the majority of spinal cord injury patients. Spinal hemisection in rats, which has been developed as an animal model of spinal cord injury in humans, results in hyperexcitation of spinal dorsal horn neurons soon after the hemisection and thereafter. The hyperexcitation is likely caused by permanent elimination of the descending pain systems. We examined the change in...