Facilitation of spinal sciatic neuron responses to hindpaw thermal stimulation after formalin injection in rat tail

A recent model of formalin injection in the tail induced a facilitation of the hindpaw withdrawal reflexes. In the present work we tried, after injecting formalin into the tail of the albino rat, to determine the spontaneous activity and response changes of lumbar sciatic wide-dynamic-range neurons to thermal stimulations of the paw at 45 degrees C and 48 degrees C (the respective thresholds for noxious and non-noxious thermal stimuli). The experiments were carried out with multiple recording electrodes placed in a comb array in the lumbar segments of the spinal cord at L4-L6 level in the sciatic projection field. A significant facilitation of the spontaneous activity was already evident 2 min after injection; at 5 min there were strong facilitations to the thermal stimuli. Stimuli at 45 degrees C, often ineffective prior to the formalin injection, became strongly excitatory. Stimuli at 48 degrees C evoked more conspicuous responses. This facilitatory effect on spontaneous and thermal responses followed a time-course comparable to that described for the excitations seen after paw formalin injection, but the duration was more prolonged, lasting more than 2 h. These data indicate a facilitatory role of the formalin effects on spinal sciatic neurons after injection in the tail. It is proposed that the mutual effects of spinal neurons in distant spinal segments could explain the facilitation and such a time-course, and that a role in the development of prolonged pain could be envisaged.