New pathway to understand the mechanism of visceral pain

Development of a new pathway to manage the clinical pain is a clinical chalenge. Drs. Bin Feng and Guoan Zheng professors in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, have recently received a $2,030,740 grant from the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to better understand the causes of chronic visceral pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to characterize the sensory neural cell bodies in a cluster of neurons known as the dorsal root ganglion, or DRG. These neural clusters are responsible for transmitting sensory messages of pain and touch from skin, as well as inner abdominal organs including the colon and rectum. Drs. Feng and Zheng will quantify the topological distribution of pain receptors called mechanonociceptors. These neurons respond to intense pressure on the colorectum. This project will help to define the molecular properties of mechano- and silent nociceptors, specifically in the thoracolumbar and lumbosacral DRG.

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