Research reportTemporal and spatial dynamics of peripheral afferent-evoked activity in the dorsal horn recorded in rat spinal cord slices

•Identify nociceptive neuronal circuitry in rat dorsal horn by MEA recording.•Glutamatergic and opioidergic receptors and gabapentin involved in this activity.•2D-CSD was used to analyze spatio-temporal profile of this activity.

In the present study, multi-electrode array recording was used to examine dorsal horn activity following stimulation of primary afferents in a rat dorsal root attached-spinal cord slice preparation. The multi-electrode array probe was placed under the dorsal horn slice and local field potentials evoked by stimulation on the dorsal root were analyzed. Three kinds of dorsal root-evoked responses were identified. In lamina IIo, local field potentials exhibited P1 (peak latency 1.46 ± 0.08 ms), N1 (2.77 ± 0.18 ms, n = 12), N2 (7.31 ± 0.48 ms), N3 (12.12 ± 0.73 ms) and P2(18.30 ± 0.80 ms) waves. In lamina IIi local field potentials exhibited P (1.99 ± 0.10 ms), N1 (3.35 ± 0.17 ms) and N2 (8.58 ± 0.44 ms) waves. In laminae III-VI, local field potentials exhibited P1 (3.01 ± 0.07 ms), P2 (7.02 ± 0.21 ms) and N waves (22.57 ± 0.79 ms). Sweep spread was calculated by two dimensional current source density (2D-CSD) analysis. Both α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic a/kainate and N-methyl-d-aspartate-type glutamate receptors participated in this neuronal circuitry. Morphine diminished local field potentials. Gabapentin diminished the negative components in lamina II and P2 component in lamina IIo, but increased the positive components in lamina IIi and laminae III-VI. The present study revealed that functional dorsal horn activity was preserved in the spinal cord slice preparation. Glutamatergic synapses were crucially involved in information processing. Opioid interneurons and gabapentin may play a modulatory role in regulating signal flows in the dorsal horn. Taken together, these results identify a spatio-temporal profile of dorsal horn activity evoked by dorsal root stimulation, and implicate glutamatergic and opioidergic receptors and gabapentin in this activity.