Pain Versus Man

Part 1 Nociception - from physiology to pathology - basic aspects: evolution of the concept of pain; the biological function and dysfunction of different pain mechanisms; deafferentation pain and the opioids in the dorsal horn of the rat spinal cord; the wide spectrum of functions of capsaicin-sensitive nociceptive afferents; action of antibiotics in two animal models of pain; physiological factors influence substance-P evoked flare in human skin; capsaicin-sensitive afferents and pain arising from the urinary bladder; physiological analgesia is obtainable by potentiating presynaptic mechanisms involved in central pain control. Part 2 Clinical profiles: profiles of CNS neuropeptides in chronic pain of different nature; referred pain from viscera - when the symptom persists despite the extinction of the visceral focus; pathophysiological mechanisms operating in reflex sympathetic dystrophy; when cardiac pain offends somatic structures - shoulder-hand syndrome; fibromyalgia - a dysfunctional syndrome with chronic pain; central panalgia as an expression of systemic analgodeficiency. Part 3 Functional and organic damages from deafferentation: man versus pain - the dilemma of morphine; mechanisms of compulsive self-directed behaviour by humans and subhumans from deafferentations; phantom pain and phenomena after amputations; ascending modulation of thalamic function and pain - experimental and clinical data; changes in vasomation and nociception in trigeminal deafferented humans; involvement of opioid and non-opioid peptides in deafferentation pain. Part 4 Idiopathic cephalic pain: painless and painful sensations anatomofunctionally characterize viscerogenic and somatogenic headache; the possible role of serotonin in the migraine syndrome; trigeminal pain mechanisms in cluster headache; EEG alterations in migraine - an expression of pain hypertransmission?; pain and sex steroids; sympathetic and sensory pupillary impairment in cluster headache - a fortuitous or related coexistence?; focus on latent nociceptive dysfunction in humans; studies on phantom toothache; lymphocyte beta-endorphin immunoreactivity in migraine patients - effects of chlorimipramine treatment.