Unravelling the puzzle of pain
June 20, 2007
Findings on pain published in two international scientific journals
A University of Calgary neuroscientist has back-to-back papers being published in two prestigious international journals for his research into pain. Gerald Zamponi, PhD, was published in the Journal of Neuroscience, and then, in the renowned journal Nature Neuroscience for his findings on pain pathways in the brain.
“Living with intractable pain is devastating,” says Zamponi, PhD, a professor of physiology and biophysics in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine. “Today’s pain medications are not always providing as much relief as we would like. We hope these early findings will lead to new drugs, and give some hope to people with chronic nerve pain, or pain from inflammation.”
Zamponi’s first discovery is published in the Journal of Neuroscience. His team and U of C collaborator Nathalie Vergnolle, PhD, found a specific pathway that processes the pain signals leading to the brain. By manipulating a key protein, the team is able to block “bad” pain, while leaving “good” pain alone. “Pain is a necessary safety feature that we rely on to warn us of dangers,” says Zamponi, PhD, an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research scientist. “The drugs on the market today have major side-effects, and tend to target all pain. We anticipate that our findings will lead to much better pain blockers for serious conditions such as diabetic neuropathy, shingles and irritable bowel syndrome.”
The second paper published by Zamponi’s laboratory and U of C colleague Ray Turner, PhD, appears in Nature Neuroscience. The research team has found that a protein called ROCK (Rho associated kinase) can control the firing properties of neurons in the central nervous system. Human beings all have the ROCK protein as well as the receptors that activate this protein throughout the body. By boosting ROCK, the scientists were able to decrease the activity of neurons in the central nervous system of rats. That, in turn, allowed Zamponi’s team to reduce the excessive brain activity that happens during epileptic seizures. However, the researchers also proved their prediction about ROCK and pain: enhancing ROCK increased the activity of peripheral neurons, thus amplifying pain.
“These results tell us that to minimize pain in the peripheral nerves, you need to reduce the activity of ROCK. We are now looking at that function more closely,” says Zamponi, PhD. “But, the good news is, by boosting this protein, we were able to calm the electrical brain storm that causes seizures. Our future research will investigate how best to activate or inhibit the ROCK pathway in specific parts of the brain.”
Zamponi, PhD, is a Canada Research Chair in Molecular Neurobiology whose work is also supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.