Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026

Teasing Out the Interplay Between Natural Killer Cells and Nociceptor Neurons
Published on: June 30, 2022
Nociception and autonomic nervous system
P Cortelli1, G Giannini, V Favoni
1Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e NeuroMotorie-DIBINEM, Headache Unit, Ospedale Bellaria, IRCCS Istituto di Scienze Neurologiche, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Via Altura, 3, 40139 Bologna, Italy. pietro.cortelli@unibo.it
Abstract:
The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage". Pain may also be experienced in absence of noxious stimuli and together with temperature and other bodily feelings constitute the interoception redefined as the sense of the physiological condition of the entire body, not just the viscera. The main characteristic of these feelings is the affective aspect. Emotion, motivation, and consequent behavior connected with these feelings characterize their homeostatic role. This implies an interaction between neural structures involved in pain sensation and autonomic control. The aim of this review is to focus on pain perception, mainly on pain matrix structures' connections with the autonomic nervous system.
Related Concept Videos
Nociception
Disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System
Raynaud's disease, also known as Raynaud's phenomenon, is a...
Autonomic Nervous System: Overview
Autonomic Nervous System
The ANS comprises two main divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. These divisions function antagonistically to maintain a dynamic...
Nervous System
Extending...
Pain
