Sensitization of spinal trigeminal neurons by environmental and internal factors

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This application is one of the German contributions of a Japanese-German joint project (JSPS) involving the group of Prof. K. Mizumura, Research Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Nagoya University and the group of Prof. S. Mense, Institute for Anatomy, University of Heidelberg. The purpose of this joint project is to clarify how endogenous factors like nitric oxide (NO), nerve growth factor (NGF) or adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP) and exogenous (environmental) factors like ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure can cause or aggravate chronic muscle pain and headaches with muscular contribution like tension-type headache and migraine. These questions will be addressed by analyzing pain behavior and neuronal activities in the periphery, spinal cord and brain stem in animal experiments. The present contribution of this joint project is focused on the influence of ATP, NO production and lowering of atmospheric pressure on the activity of rat spinal trigeminal neurons, which process afferent input from the meninges and the neck muscles. Infusion of a NO donor will be used to sensitize the trigeminal system (“headache model”). Furthermore, possible headache-related behaviors after sensitization under changing atmospheric pressure will be analyzed. The synergy behind this joint project arises naturally from the expertise of the collaborators on their fields that will be brought together and from the unique chance of using a climate chamber at the Japanese partner institution, in which different ambient conditions like low atmospheric pressure can be simulated. Therefore the expenses are predominantly for the visits of contributing scientists.