This project correlates behavioral responses with neural responses of thalamic projection and non-projection neurons in the medullary dorsal horn (trigeminal nucleus caudalis) produced by noxious thermal stimuli in the behaving monkey. Medullary dorsal horn neurons encode thermal discriminative information used by the monkey to perform a thermal detection task. Many medullary dorsal horn neurons encode thermal intensity in a manner which allows the detection of small changes in noxious temperatures. The role of dorsal horn wide-dynamic-range (WDR) and nociceptive-specific (NS) neurons in the encoding of the perceived intensity of noxious stimuli was determined while monkeys detected near-threshold changes in the intensity of noxious heat stimuli. Behavioral detection latencies were a reliable measure of the perceived intensity of thsee stimuli. There was a significant correlation between behavioral detection latency and neuronal discharge of WDR, but not NS neurons. In addition, WDR neurons exhibited greater activity on correctly-detected versus non-detected trials, whereas NS neurons did not. We conclude that WDR neurons are involved in the encoding process by which monkeys perceive the intensity of noxious heat stimuli near detection threshold. Some thermally sensitive neurons also respond to other stimuli used by the monkey for the successful completion of the task. This task-related activity occurs in characteristic patterns of excitation and/or inhibition and some neurons which exhibit such activity project to the thalamus. The task-related responses exhibited by some of these neurons may modulate sensory activity and thereby influence the perception of an response to oral-facial pain.
