Responses Evoked in the Brain Stem by Tooth Stimulation

Abstract

Evokes responses were recorded from the thalamus and midbrain following tooth pulp stimulation in anesthetized cats and curarized cats. The ascending paths in the midbrain include (a) the trigeminal lemniscus, (b) a trigemino-bulbo-thalamic pathway, (c) the dorsal secondary trigeminal pathway of the central tegmental fasciculus, (d) a pathway within the central grey and (e) true long latency reticular responses. Within the thalamus the tooth pulp stimulation activated n. ventralis posterior and n. ventralis posterior pars medialis by way of paths (a) and (b) above, nn. parafascicularis and subparafascicularis by way of path (c), and the periventricular area by way of pathway (d).