CNS Pharmacology

The research in CNS Pharmacology is focused on functional pathophysiology and pharmacology of the central nervous system. The main goal is the elucidation of pathophysiology of neuropathic pain and spinal cord injury (SCI) and the contribution to the development of therapeutic agents for these diseases. Especially nociceptive sensory and skeletal motor functions of the spinal cord are studied using behavioral (in vivo) and electrophysiological (in vivo and in vitro) methods.

In the neruopathic pain state, tactile stimuli which normally cannot induce pain, evokes severe pain sensation. We have demonstrated that gabapentin, a remedy for chronic pain (neuropathic pain), stimulates noradrenergic neurons which descend to spinal dorsal horn from the brainstem. Released noradrenaline at the spinal cord blocks pain signal transmission to cerebral cortex from spinal nociceptive neurons. We consider that this novel supraspinally mediated mechanisms provides a new insight for the development of the compounds in the treatment of neuropathic pain.