Perhaps the most striking aspect of the central nervous system is its ability to stably represent our external environment, while at the same time being sensitive to environmental changes. One example of such a process is the sensation and perception of pain.
Peripheral stimulation activates specific neural circuits in the spinal cord and brain.
Under normal circumstances, one perceives pain only when the stimulus is noxious. However, tissue or nerve injury profoundly alters the transmission of sensory information such that light touch now evokes pain. As a member of Allan Basbaum's laboratory , I am interested in understanding the changes in the nervous system that mediate this behavioral hypersensitivity. My approach is to use a combination of behavioral, anatomical and electrophysiological techniques to identify the neural mechanisms that underlie the transmission and modulation of both acute and persistent pain. Inflammation-induced upregulation of Protein Kinase C gamma immunoreactivity in rat spinal cord correlates with enhanced nociceptive processing.