Long Term Changes in Excitability of Enteric Neurons

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/114216

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

A large proportion of the community, about 20% at any one time, suffer from functional bowel disorders, the most common of which is the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The bowel in these patients appears normal; there are no overt changes in its appearance. However, the patients have discomfort, pain, abdominal bloating and altered bowel habits, which can include constipation and-or diarrhoea. There is general agreement that an alteration in the responsiveness of sensory neurons of the digestive tract occurs in IBS. Until our recent discovery of long-term increases in excitability of intrinsic sensory neurons in the small intestine, no possible cellular basis for altered sensory neuron responsiveness that could underlie IBS had been found. We will investigate the mechanism of the long-term increase in excitability and will investigate drugs that are expected to modify its induction and-or maintenance. We expect that this work will aid in unravelling the genesis of IBS and will eventually lead to strategies to treat this common debilitating condition.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2001

End Date: 01-01-2002

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $198,414.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Medical bacteriology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Enteric Nervous System | Gastroenterology | Irritable Bowel Syndrome | Neurology | Neurophysiology

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