The spinal cord in vitro: What can it tell us about nociception?

The use of amphibian and mammalian in vitro spinal cord preparations, e.g., hemisected cord and transverse slices, has gained in popularity over the years due to the flexibility and ease of use of such preparations compared to classical in vivo approaches. When combined with modern experimental methodologies, such as patch clamping of visualized single cells or post-experimental neuroanatomy, this approach provides a powerful addition to the armamentarium available to study nociceptive processing in the dorsal horn. Some of these novel experimental approaches and the insight into nociception that they have provided are described below. Neirofiziologiya/Neurophysiology, Vol. 38, Nos. 5/6, pp. 481–491, September–December, 2006.