Response durations encode nociceptive stimulus intensity in the rat medial prefrontal cortex

We examined whether the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) encodes nociceptive stimulus intensity by applying mechanical pressure stimulation, for 2 s at 50, 100, or 300 g constant force (gf) to the tails of urethane-anesthetized rats. In a total of 1208 neurons sampled, 242 (20.0%) were responsive to mechanical stimuli. One hundred thirteen of the 242 (46.7%) were mechanical high threshold neurons (nociceptive specific neurons, NS; threshold >or=100 gf), and 35 (14.5%) exhibited a graded increase in excitator responses to a stepwise increase in stimulus intensity (wide dynamic range-like neurons, WDR-L). These 148 response discharges persisted during stimulation followed by post-stimulus discharges. The nociceptive response duration of NS neurons, but not discharge frequency, was reduced dose-dependently by intraventricular injection of morphine (0.3, and 30 microg/3 microl). Different doses of morphine may set the stimulus intensity at relatively different brain activity levels. Thus, the NS neurons used the response duration as a sensory transduction code. In WDR-L neurons, the response duration, but not always the firing frequency, was linearly related to stimulus intensity. The WDR-L neurons in the mPFC encoded stimulus intensity with response duration, although the coding method is not likely to be the same as that of sensory discriminating WDR cells in the primary somatosensory cortex. Both types of mPFC neurons encode nociceptive (absolute or relative) stimulus intensity and transform the information into the temporal duration of the next stage of pain-related modulation in animal behavior.