THE AUTONOMIC, SOMATIC AND CENTRAL NEURAL RESPONSES TO DEEP AND SUPERFICIAL PAIN IN HUMAN SUBJECTS
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,750.00
Summary
Pain is a subjective experience, the intensity of which can be readily influenced by personal experience. Despite this, pain originating from a particular part of the body will usually be described by all individuals as having similar character. For example, pain arising from the skin is commonly described as being sharp or burning and is usually easy to localise, whereas pain arising from muscle is commonly dull, throbbing and diffuse. In addition to producing sensory changes, pain also evokes ....Pain is a subjective experience, the intensity of which can be readily influenced by personal experience. Despite this, pain originating from a particular part of the body will usually be described by all individuals as having similar character. For example, pain arising from the skin is commonly described as being sharp or burning and is usually easy to localise, whereas pain arising from muscle is commonly dull, throbbing and diffuse. In addition to producing sensory changes, pain also evokes changes in blood pressure, heart rate and motor activity (often in an attempt to remove the source of the pain). The proposed research aims to characterise the cardiovascular and motor patterns associated with pain originating in skin and in muscle and to examine the brain regions that produce these changes. More specifically, microelectrodes will be used to investigate changes in peripheral nerve activity during transient painful skin and muscle events in awake human subjects. In a separate investigation functional magnetic resonance imaging will be used to determine brain sites that are activated by skin or muscle pain.Read moreRead less
The Plastic Effects Of Long-term Partial Deafness And Chronic Cochlear Implant Use On The Response Of Primary Auditory Cortex To Combined Electro-acoustic Stimulation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$560,267.00
Summary
Cochlear implants were originally used only in cases of profound deafness, but are now being used in patients who have some residual hearing at low frequencies. Our goal is to better understand how the electrical information from the cochlear implant and the acoustic information provided by the residual hearing are combined in the brain to produce unified perception of the auditory environment.
Generation Of Complex Responses In Retinal Ganglion Cells
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$490,500.00
Summary
The retinal ganglion cells, whose axons form the optic nerve, comprise numerous distinct types, which respond to visual stimuli in either a simple or complex manner. The project will investigate how the complex responses of the direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs) and the local-edge-detector ganglion cells (LEDs) are generated. It appears that the retinal neurons providing inhibitory input to DSGCs and LEDs use different neurotransmitters, and the project will investigate how this shapes t ....The retinal ganglion cells, whose axons form the optic nerve, comprise numerous distinct types, which respond to visual stimuli in either a simple or complex manner. The project will investigate how the complex responses of the direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs) and the local-edge-detector ganglion cells (LEDs) are generated. It appears that the retinal neurons providing inhibitory input to DSGCs and LEDs use different neurotransmitters, and the project will investigate how this shapes the response properties of the ganglion cells. This will be done both by recording the visually evoked responses of the ganglion cells in an isolated preparation of the retina and by using two-photon laser-scanning microscopy to functionally image the neuronal interactions between the neurons that inhibit the DSGCs.Read moreRead less
Understanding The Role Of The Olfactory Ensheathing Cell In The Olfactory Sensory System
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$494,000.00
Summary
The olfactory (smell) system is a unique part of the nervous system; nerve cells are generated throughout life and it can regenerate even after injury. It therefore provides an excellent model for examining the growth, development and maintenance of nerve cells. This project will examine how one specialized type of cell, the olfactory ensheathing cell, helps the nerve cells to grow and regenerate. Information we obtain about how this system develops and regenerates may be useful in treating brai ....The olfactory (smell) system is a unique part of the nervous system; nerve cells are generated throughout life and it can regenerate even after injury. It therefore provides an excellent model for examining the growth, development and maintenance of nerve cells. This project will examine how one specialized type of cell, the olfactory ensheathing cell, helps the nerve cells to grow and regenerate. Information we obtain about how this system develops and regenerates may be useful in treating brain disorders and spinal injuries In the current project we will examine how olfactory nerve cells interact with the ensheathing cells. We will use transgenic mice in which the different cells are marked by separate colours which will allow us to easily identify the cells and see where they grow. In addition, we will also examine the behaviour of live cells as they are growing. In the past all attempts to understand how nerve cell connections are formed in the olfactory system have used dead tissue that has been permanently preserved. In this project we have the unique opportunity to visualise living nerve cells to enable us to determine how the cells interact with the ensheathing cells. The advantage of this approach is that it allows us to identify important interactions as they occur, rather than attempting to decipher them after they have occurred. An analogy would be watching a football game live and observing how goals were scored and appreciating the performance of individual players versus trying to guess from the final score how the game was played and who the key performers were. These experiments will provide important information about how the olfactory ensheathing and nerve cells grow and regenerate.Read moreRead less