es of past accomplishments and the use of the first person. This abstract is meant to serve as a succinct and accurate description of the proposed work when separated from the application. If the application is funded, this description, as is, will become public information. Therefore, do not include proprietary/confidential information. DO NOT EXCEED THE SPACE PROVIDED. My objective during the K22 Faculty Transition Award is to gain expertise ill the field of oral and craniofacial pain under the guidance of expert mentors and make a successful transition into an independent investigator. A comprehensive plan was designed to ensure timely progress of many facets in my career development. The scientific goal of the proposed research is to provide an overall understanding of the trigeminal brainstem mechanisms in craniofacial muscle pain processing. The lack of scientific information on how pain associated with masticatory muscle disorders develop and persist has hampered our ability to understand the underlying pathophysiology, and to diagnose and treat TMD and other masticatory disorders. Neural mechanisms mediating craniofacial muscle pain are further complicated by the unique organization of sensory processing in the trigeminal spinal nucleus (Vsp). We have very little understanding of how various aspects of acute and chronic muscle pain are processed across different subdivisions in the Vsp and as an integrated system. I propose that noxious inputs from masticatory muscles are distributed throughout the entire Vsp. Each subnucleus contributes to functionally different aspects of acute and inflammatory orofacial muscle pain, but significant interactions between the subnuclei exist via the intranuclear connections. Initially, the distribution and afferent convergence oftrigeininal neurons that receive noxious muscle input will be exainined. The cffccts of inflammatory muscle pain on the pattern and extent of neuronal activation and neuroplastic changes in both deep and cutaneous sensibilities will also be studied. Finally, interactions between the subnuclei and functional role of each subnucleus will be studied by intranuclear and efferent projection patterns. The mentors and advisory committee members are well qualified to provide necessary training for propsoed experiments and objective evaluation of my progress. The University and the Department are fully supportive of my development and will provide environment necessary to realize my goals. The training during this transition award will enable me to pursue future studies leading to the development of a NIH RO1 grant proposal that will further our basic understanding of neurophysiologieal and neuroehemical mechanisms of craniofacial muscle pain. PERFORMANCE SITE(S) (organization, city, state) University of Maryland Dental School 666 West Baltilnore St. Baltimore, MD 21201 KEY PERSONNEL. See instructions. Use continuation Start with Principal Investigator. List all other key Name Jin Y. Ro Ronald Dnbner Ke Ren Dean Dessem Norman F. Capra Daniel Weinreicb Richard Meyer Matthew Ennis Michael Gold pages as needed to provide the required information in the format shown below. personnel in alphabetical order, last name first. Organization Role on Project Univ of Md, Dental School Principal Investigator Univ of Md, Dental School Primary Mentor Univ of Md, Dental School Mentor Univ of Md, Dental Schhol Mentor Univ of Md, Dental School Mentor Univ of Md, Medical School Advisory Committee Johns Hopkins University Advisory Committee Univ of Md, Medical School Advisory Committee Univ of Md, Dental School Advisory Committee Disclosure Permission Statement. Applicable to SBIR/STTR Only. See Instructions. [] Yes [] No PHS 3 8 (Rev. 05/ 1) Page 2 Form Page 2 Number pages consecutively at the bottom throughout the application. Do not use suffixes such as 3a, 3b. RCA TOC Substitute Page Candidate (Last, first,middle): Use this substitute page for the Table of Contents ========================================Section End===========================================
| Ro, Jin Y; Zhang, Youping; Nies, Michael (2005) Substance P does not play a critical role in neurogenic inflammation in the rat masseter muscle. Brain Res 1047:38-44 |
| Ro, Jin Y (2005) Bite force measurement in awake rats: a behavioral model for persistent orofacial muscle pain and hyperalgesia. J Orofac Pain 19:159-67 |
| Capra, Norman F; Ro, Jin Y (2004) Human and animal experimental models of acute and chronic muscle pain: intramuscular algesic injection. Pain 110:3-7 |
| Nies, Michael; Ro, Jin Young (2004) Bite force measurement in awake rats. Brain Res Brain Res Protoc 12:180-5 |
