Development of a novel therapy for chronic pain patients by enhancing the descending pain inhibiroty systems via BDNF signalings

Research Project

Project/Area Number	26893032
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Anesthesiology
Research Institution	Gunma University
Principal Investigator	Suto Takashi 群馬大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (60739621)
Project Period (FY)	2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,990,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥690,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Keywords	慢性痛 / 神経障害性疼痛
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Chronic nerve injured animals showed decreased prefrontal cortex function including cognition. They also showed decreased pain evoked pain inhibition. Treatment with TrkB receptor agonist (7,8-dihydroxyflavone) partially restored those impairment of PFC related function as reported before. TrkB agonist also restored pain evoked analgesia via noradrenergic activation. Immnohistochemistry of Locous coeruleus suggested the TrkB agonist improves excitation of noradrenergic neurons in locous coeruleus. Microdialysis studies are scheduled to examine the balance of glutamate and GABA signalings in locous coeruleus.