Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Pain: Ian Meng, Ph.D.

Research Interests
imageIan Meng, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Physiology, conducts research focused on the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the suppression and facilitation of pain.

He uses an integrative approach, relating behavior to the activity of single brain neurons in rodents. The brain can both inhibit and facilitate pain signals through projections to the spinal cord dorsal horn. Morphine and stress produce analgesia by activating a pain inhibitory pathway that includes the amygdala, periaqueductal gray region and the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM). Morphine tolerance and certain types of chronic pain involve the activation of a pain facilitating pathway that also includes a projection from the RVM to the spinal cord dorsal horn. Dr. Meng’s research examines how activation or inhibition of specific neuronal subtypes in the pain modulating pathway can lead to increases or decreases in pain.

Mu-opioid receptor agonists, such as morphine, activate a specific sub-set of neurons within the RVM that leads to behavioral analgesia. Using a combination of behavioral and electrophysiological methods, Dr Meng determined that cannabinoid receptor agonists, which include the major psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, reduce pain by activating a similar sub-set of neurons in the RVM. This research will increase out understanding of the mechanisms underlying chronic pains states, leading the way to improved treatments.

See press release on $400,000 Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
   
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