The periaqueductal gray has a high concentration of:

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When evaluating what the periaqueductal gray (PAG) is rich in, it helps to recall its role in pain modulation and endogenous analgesia circuits.
Option 1: 'serotonin receptors.' While the PAG does interact with serotonergic systems and serotonin can modulate pain pathways, this option overstates the PAG's receptor concentration as being primarily serotonin receptors. The hallmark feature often emphasized is not serotonin receptor density but another system closely tied to analgesia.
Option 2: 'opioid receptors.' This choice aligns with the established neuroanatomical profile of the PAG, which houses high densities of mu-opioid receptors and plays a central role in endogenous pain suppression through opioid signaling.
Option 3: 'Substance P receptors.' Substance P receptors (NK1) are involved in pain transmission at several levels of the nervous system, but the PAG is not classically known for a high concentration of these receptors compared to its opioid receptor enrichment.
Option 4: 'glutamate receptors.' Glutamatergic signaling is ubiquitous in the brain and participates in many circuits, including pain pathways, yet the distinctive feature of the PAG is not its predominance of glutamate receptor density over other regions, nor is it defined by an especially high concentration of these receptors.
In terms of the core functional biology, the periaqueductal gray’s prominent characteristic relevant to modulation of pain is its rich opioid receptor presence, which underpins endogenous analgesic mechanisms and opioid-mediated pain inhibition. The other receptor types are involved in pain processing more broadly but do not define the PAG as having a high concentration of them in the same way.

W25 PSYC D024 01Z Intro Psychobiology Week 8 Quiz (Covers Ch. 7)

The periaqueductal gray has a high concentration of:

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