Senior Seminary Summary 4

Riya Shah

Senior Seminar

Dr. Ko

October 20, 2022

Summary # 4

This week’s presentation was given by Dr. Yuan-Xiang Tao, M.D, Ph. D. He is the Director at the

Center of Pain Medicine Research. He is a Professor at the Anesthesiology department at Rutgers New

Jersey Medical School as well as other departments at the school. His presentation was titled “Updated

Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Neuropathic Pain”. The two main focuses of his lab are Chronic pain

and opioid-associated disorders. From there, they focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms and new

targets followed by possible treatments. This method of focus has brought them 5 patents. This

presentation specifically focused on neuropathic pain. It is a major clinical neurological disorder. There is

a ladder which represents neuropathic pain management called the Analgesic Ladder. There are three

steps to this ladder. The first step deals with mild to moderate pain. This consists of non-opioids such as

aspirin, NSAIDS or paracetamol. The second step moves onto moderate to severe pain. This consists of

mild opioids such as codeine along with or without non opioids. The third and final step deals with

severe pain. This category consists of strong opioids such as morphine with or without non opioids. 2/3

patients complain of unsatisfactory pain control and/or severe side effects from the medicine they take.

Some of these side effects include dizziness, depression, nausea, vomiting and constipation just to name

a few.

There are two major pain mechanisms, peripheral and central. Peripheral deals with

spontaneous ectopic discharge, sensitization of peripheral neurons, collateral sprouting and ephaptic

communication. Central mechanisms deal with central sensitization, disinhibition (loss of inhibitory

neurons), descending facilitation and reorganization of synaptic connectivity. This mechanism has some

evidence but remains elusive. Dr. Tao spent quite some time talking about the Doral root ganglion,

referred to as DRG. He introduced us to three neuropathic pain models: SNL, CCI and SNI. H even

touched upon how epigenetic regulation affects neuropathic pain. Specifically, he mentioned DNA

methylation, Histone modification and Non-coding RNAs.

In conclusion, he showed us a novel mechanism is neuropathic pain, a new regulation of CCL2

and other potential downstream signals and the potential clinical applications. This was a very

informative presentation and it was of a topic that most of us are definitely not familiar with. It was

fascinating to learn how pain management is very intricate and dependent on a variety of factors and

mechanisms.

Senior Biology Seminar (BIOL 4197)