Research Interests

 
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Peripheral Nerve Injury
Spinal Cord Injury
Pain in Diabetes

 

My Research

    Research in our laboratory centers on the identification of central nervous system (CNS) mechanisms of nociception (pain perception) using functional brain imaging coupled with quantitative behavioral testing in animal models of acute and neuropathic pain. A high-resolution quantitative autoradiographic method, developed in our lab, employs a radiotracer labeled with [99m]Tc to image regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during nociception in awake, un-anesthetized animals. During imaging, changes in rCBF serve as the index of neuronal synaptic activity. Behavioral responses are measured and brain imaging is performed during the application of either innocuous (non-painful) or noxious (painful) mechanical, thermal or chemical stimuli applied to the skin. Statistical analysis correlates changes in the pattern and level of brain activation with behavioral data to determine functional significance.
   Current studies combine quantitative behavioral testing with neuroimaging to identify supraspinal mechanisms of neuropathic pain in the streptozotocin (STZ) model of experimental insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in rats. This research promises to identify central nervous system mechanisms specifically involved in the induction and/or maintenance of chronic neuropathic pain in diabetes. Increasing our understanding of the CNS consequences and neural mechanisms of neuropathic pain in diabetes may provide new ideas toward development of improved approaches and therapies for the management and treatment of pain in diabetes, as well as in other chronically painful disorders.

Representative Publications:

  1. Hauck M, Bischoff P, Schmidt G, Zimmerman R, Lorenz J, Morrow TJ, Bromm B: Clonidine effects on pain evoked SII activity in humans. European Journal of Pain, 2006 (euro-j-pain-2006.pdf)

  2. Paulson PE, Casey KL, Morrow TJ: Differences in Forebrain Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Two Strains of Rat At Rest and After SCI. Exptl. Neurology, 2005, 196: 413-421.(expneurol-2005.pdf)

  3. Morrow, T.J.: Animal Models of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy. In: Current Protocols in Neuroscience, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2004. (CPNS-9-18_2005.pdf).

  4. Hong S, Morrow TJ, Paulson PE, Isom LL, Wiley JW: Early painful diabetic neuropathy is associated with differential changes in tetrodotoxin-sensitive and -resistant sodium channels in dorsal root ganglion neurons in the rat., J. Biol. Chem., 2004, 279: 29341-29350. (JBiolChem-2004.pdf)

  5. Morrow, TJ and Casey, KL: Understanding Central Pain: New Insights from Forebrain Imaging Studies of Patients and of Animals with Central Lesions.  In: Yezierski, RP and Burchiel, KJ (Eds.) Spinal Cord Injury Pain: Assessment, Mechanisms, and Management, Vol. 23, IASP Press, Seattle, WA, 2002, pp 265-279. (SCI-Pain-2003.pdf)

  6. Lorenz J, Cross DJ, Minoshima S, Morrow TJ, P.E. Paulson PE, and Casey KL:  A Unique Representation Of Heat Allodynia In The Human Brain. Neuron, 2002, 383-393. (neuron2002.pdf)

  7. Paulson PE, Casey KL, Morrow TJ: .Long Term Changes in Behavior and Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Associated with Painful Peripheral Mononeuropathy in the Rat. Pain. 2002, 95:31-40. (pain-95-2002.pdf)

  8. Coghill RC and Morrow TJ: Functional imaging of animal models of pain: High resolution insights into nociceptive processing. In: Casey, KL and Bushnell MC (Eds.) Pain Imaging, IASP Press, Seattle, WA, 2001, pp 211-239.

  9. Morrow TJ and Casey KL: Attention-related, cross modality modulation of somatosensory neurons in primate ventrobasal (VB) thalamus. Somatosensory and Motor Research, 2000, 17 (2): 133-144. (Somatosensory-Motor_Res-17-2000.pdf)

  10. Morrow TJ, Paulson PE, Brewer KL, Yesierski RP, K.L. Casey.  Spinal cord injury (SCI) increases forebrain regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in rat. Exptl Neurology, 2000, 161: 220-226.(exptl-neurol-161-2000.pdf)

  11. Paulson PE, Morrow TJ, K.L. Casey: Bilateral behavioral and regional cerebral blood flow changes during painful peripheral mononeuropathy in the rat. PAIN, 2000, 84: 233-245. (pain84-2000.pdf)

  12. Casey KL, Svensson P, Morrow TJ, Raz J, Jone C, Minoshima S: Selective opiate modulation of nociceptive processing in the human brain. J. Neurophysiol, 2000, 84: 525-533. (j-neurophys-84-2000.pdf)

  13. Morrow TJ, Paulson PE, Danneman PJ, Casey, K.L.:  Regional changes in forebrain activation during the early and late phase of formalin nociception: analysis using cerebral blood flow in the rat.  PAIN, 1998, 75 (2,3): 355-365. (pain75-1998.pdf)

  Additional publications available via PUB-MED.

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This site was last updated 03/06/06