Introduction to Section III

Abstract

That the axons of lamina I cells travel towards the brain has been known since Kuru detected their retrograde chromatolytic response following cordotomy. However, it was not until the introduction of modern anatomical methods that the problem of the superficial dorsal horn’ connections with the brain could be addressed with precision. We now know that lamina I cells innervate a very large number of targets in the medulla, pons, thalamus (including distinct targets in lateral, medial, and caudal nuclei), hypothalamus, and several regions of the telencephalon. The papers in this section review the progress that has been made in mapping the brain regions that are innervated by superficial dorsal horn cells and present exciting new observations on the development, morphology, and neurochemistry of lamina I cells.