Dr. Eisenach's Lab - Research Projects
Under NIH grant GM48085 we are studying the role of spinally produced prostaglandins in pain and hypersensitivity. In the lab we are examining the factors which activate cyclooxygenase (COX) activity in microglia after peripheral surgery and nerve injury (Figure). In the clinic we are testing the effect of selective inhibition of spinal COX by spinal injection of ketorolac in various pain states.
Under NIH grant NS57594 we are examining plasticity of descending inhibition in chronic neuropathic pain. In the lab we have observed that there is paradoxical sprouting of inhibitory noradrenergic fibers in the spinal cord after nerve injury, and are focusing on the role of BDNF in causing this sprouting and its consequences. We are also testing in the lab how gabapentin activates descending inhibition and in the clinic and lab how this activation can be amplified by approved drugs which inhibit the norepinephrine transporter (duloxetine) and acetylcholinesterase (donepezil).