Gastrointestinal sensory function in normal and diseased states

消化系统引起的慢性疼痛和不适是世界范围内的一个主要卫生保健问题。这些问题通常没有明显的器质性原因，目前还没有有效的治疗方法。缺乏治疗是由于缺乏对感觉如何从消化系统传递到大脑的了解。我们的研究小组拥有独特而强大的技术，使我们能够探索感觉功能的基本机制，并在寻找减少肠道特定类型感觉信号的药物方面取得快速进展。我们将研究肠道上部和下部的感觉机制，这些区域的症状在非心源性胸痛、功能性消化不良和肠易激综合征等疾病中最为常见。肠道感觉神经末梢的六个方面将被研究：1.将神经末梢划分为功能类别(类似于皮肤中的触摸或压力感受器)2.终末如何对肠道中发现的化学物质和激素做出反应3.目前可用的药物如何有效地降低敏感性4.炎症影响敏感性的机制5.神经生长因子如何引发敏感度的变化6.神经末梢中的毛孔或通道如何决定其功能

Chronic pain and discomfort from the digestive system is a major health care issue world-wide. There is currently no effective treatment for these problems, which often have no apparent organic cause. Lack of treatment is due to a lack of understanding about how sensations are transmitted from the digestive system to the brain. Our research group has unique and powerful techniques that allow us to probe the basic mechanisms of sensory function, and make rapid progress towards finding drugs that reduce specific types of sensory signals from the gut. We shall investigate sensory mechanisms in the upper and lower regions of the gut, where symptoms are most prevalent in diseases such as non-cardiac chest pain, functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome. Six aspects of sensory nerve endings in the gut are to be investigated: 1. The grouping of endings into functional classes (similar to touch or pressure receptors in skin) 2. How endings respond to chemicals and hormones found in the gut 3. How currently available drugs may be useful in reducing sensitivity 4. The mechanisms by which inflammation affects sensitivity 5. How nerve growth factors may trigger changes in sensitivity 6. How pores or channels in nerve endings determine their function