Tyrosine Hydroxylase in Primary Somatosensory Neurons

位于脊髓长度的初级感觉神经元位于被称为脊神经节的结构中，将关于身体的信息(体感信息，如疼痛、温度)传递到中枢神经系统。确定这些感觉神经细胞的解剖、生化和分子特征是确定其功能的先决条件。瑟洛奇博士最近发现，脊神经节细胞的大量亚群中含有一种名为酪氨酸羟基酶的酶的生物合成机制，这种酶对合成一种名为儿茶酚胺的化学信使至关重要。这一发现提出了儿茶酚胺在体内感觉信息的传输和编码中发挥作用的可能性。这项拟议研究的主要目标是彻底描述脊神经节内酪氨酸羟化酶(和儿茶酚胺)的组织结构，并确定可能与儿茶酚胺信号相关的身体特定部位。Seroology博士将通过使用分子生物学和神经解剖学技术来实现这一点。这些研究的结果将大大加深我们对脊神经节中儿茶酚胺功能组织的了解，并将作为未来与生理学研究的基础，以了解儿茶酚胺参与传递感觉信息。

Primary sensory neurons located along the length of the spinal cord in structures known as spinal ganglia convey information about the body (somatosensory information; e.g. pain, temperature) to the central nervous system. Defining the anatomical, biochemical, and molecular characteristics of these sensory nerve cells is prerequisite to determining their function. Dr. Seroogy has recently discovered that substantial subpopulations of spinal ganglion cells contain the biosynthetic machinery for an enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylase, an enzyme crucial for the synthesis of a class of chemical messengers called catecholamines. This finding raises the possibility that catecholamines play a role in the transfer and coding of sensory information from the body. The primary goals of the proposed research are to thoroughly characterize the organization of tyrosine hydroxylase (and catecholamines) within spinal ganglia and to determine the specific parts of the body that may be associated with catecholamine signalling. Dr. Seroogy will accomplish this by using molecular biological and neuroanatomical techniques. The results of these studies will add significantly to our understanding of the functional organization of catecholamines in spinal ganglia and will serve as the basis for future correlations with physiological studies in order to understand the involvement of catecholamines in transmitting sensory information.