Question

Can someone briefly explain why

visceral pleurae receive autonomic nerve innervation which produces dull and poorly localised pain whereas parietal pleurae receive somatic nerve innervation and the pain is sharp and severe.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Visceral pain is poorly localized because of underrepresentation within the lateral (S1) cortex. Primary afferents travel with visceral sympathetic fibers in chest and abdomen and with parasympathetic fibers in the pelvis. Afferents converge on the celiac plexus and the paravertebral sympathetic ganglion in the chest so the pain is dull and poor while the parietal pleura is innervated with somatic pain receptors supplied by the phrenic nerve; the pain signals are rapidly transmitted, leading to pain that is sharp and localized