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The mechanism of gate control theory can be used therapeutically. Gate control theory thus explains how stimulus that activates only nonnociceptive nerves can inhibit pain. The pain seems to be lessened when the area is rubbed because activation of nonnociceptive fibers inhibits the firing of nociceptive ones in the laminae. [4]
Gate Control Theory Firing of the inhibitory interneuron (responding to the non-painful stimuli) decreases the probability that the projection neuron (responsible for pain responses) will fire an action potential. The wide dynamic range (WDR) neuron was first discovered by Mendell in 1966. [1]
At Melzack's urging they wrote a paper on the Gate control theory of pain and published it in Brain in 1962; according to Wall it was read by around three people. After expanding and rewriting the article they republished it as Pain Mechanisms: a new theory in Science in 1965 where it drew wider attention, with mostly negative comments. [11]
The Gate Control Theory of Pain, first proposed in the 1960s by Melzack and Wall, states that the concurrent activation of tactile afferent nerve fibers inhibits activation of nociceptive afferent fibres. [1] Melzack and Wall suggested that a gating mechanism is present in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord.
The nociceptive signal is thus inhibited before reaching the cortical areas that interpret the signal as pain, such as the anterior cingulate. This is sometimes referred to as the gate control theory of pain and is supported by the fact that electrical stimulation of the PAG results in immediate and profound analgesia. [3]
Gate control theory of pain. A major hypothesis in the theory of pain perception is the gate control theory of pain, proposed by Wall and Melzack in 1965. The theory predicts that the activation of central pain inhibitory neurons by non-pain sensing neurons prevents the transmission of non-harmful stimuli to pain centers in the brain.
Clinics that dispensed painkillers proliferated with only the loosest of safeguards, until a recent coordinated federal-state crackdown crushed many of the so-called “pill mills.” As the opioid pain meds became scarce, a cheaper opioid began to take over the market — heroin. Frieden said three quarters of heroin users started with pills.
Ronald Melzack OC OQ FRSC (July 19, 1929 – December 22, 2019) was a Canadian psychologist and professor of psychology at McGill University. [1] [2] In 1965, he and Patrick David Wall re-charged pain research by introducing the gate control theory of pain.