My long-term goals are to improve our understanding of the neural basis of visceral and trigeminal pain. In pursuing these goals, I am focusing on the clinical problem of vascular headache syndromes such as migraine by investigating the pain-signalling properties of the sensory innervation that supplies cranial blood vessels, with the support of a FIRST Award. However, I need to acquire new research skills in order to pursue these goals effectively. My previous training is primarily limited to central nervous system electrophysiology, and this approach by itself is not sufficient for addressing the basic issues of sensory processing and neural circuitry that are critical for my long-term goals. The RCDA will allow me to gain additional training, under the supervision of skilled investigators both within and outside the MGH Neuroscience Center, in the basic neurobiological techniques I need for addressing these issues. Under the RCDA I will learn electron microscopic techniques under the supervision of Dr. Marian DiFiglia of the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at MGH, and I will learn single-unit peripheral nerve electrophysiological recording techniques under the supervision of Drs. Stephen Raymond and Johann Thalhammer of the Neurophysiology Research Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. In an expansion of the studies initiated under my FIRST Award, I will incorporate these new experimental approaches into an integrated research plan to investigate both the peripheral and central mechanisms in an animal model of vascular head pain: I)The physiological response properties of primary afferent neurons that innervate cranial blood vessels will be studied during graded mechanical, thermal, and chemical vascular stimulation; 2)Electron microscopic studies will examine the morphological basis for sensory transmission in the craniovascular afferent neurons by characterizing their terminal morphology, axonal diameter, central distribution, and patterns of central convergence.
