The neurophysiological literature on nodceptive neurons with ascending projections from the spinal cord has been riven for almost 40 years by a dogmatic controversy: many investigators professed that pain is subserved by so-called 'wide dynamic range' (WDR) neurons that respond to both low- and high-threshold cutaneous stimuli, whereas others preferred cells with nociceptive-specific (NS) response properties (reviewed in: Craig, 2003). WDR proponents claimed that such cells fulfilled the once popular (but now discredited: Inui et al. 2006) 'gate control theory' and that they could easily explain the allodynia commonly described by neuropathic pain patients (that is, pain elicited by low-threshold contact, as in sunburn). On the other hand, proponents of NS neurons claimed that such cells could serve as labelled lines' that required no central integration to signal pain.
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