[Structure of the viscerocutaneous sensitive syndrome (pathogenesis of Zakhar'in--Head zones)]

On the basis of literature analysis, clinical observations, and examinations of the spinal cord ganglia of man (autopsy material) and experimental animals (dogs) performed with the use of a set of naurohistological and cytochemical methods an original explanation of the pathogenesis of the Head zones is suggested. The principal link in the formation of the viscero-cutaneous and viscero-sclerotomic sensation syndrome are transitory presynaptic terminals formed by the axons of the vegetative sensor neurons (cells of Dogel type 2) on the surface of the somatic receptor neurons innervating the skin and the sclerotomic tissues, and responding to temperature and pain. Within the zone of the innervation by the dendrites of these somatic receptor neurons (cutaneous and sclerotomic) a reflected viscero-sensory syndrome is formed. The formation of these viscero-cutaneous and viscero-sclerotomic syndromes proceeds in 4 steps.