Anaesthetics

The genetic basis of pain

Persistent pain is a significant health problem globally, both in economic and social terms. In 1999 it was estimated that the cost of unrelieved persistent pain in Australia was in excess of $10billion per annum. The major drugs historically used to manage pain, such as non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory, opioid and anticonvulsant drugs, have had very limited benefit for persistent pain patients.

With the assistant of the Medical Foundation, chief investigators from the Pain Management Research Institute, the Department of Anaesthesia and pain Management, and the Kolling Institute at Royal North Shore Hospital, aim to develop and staff, a behavioural research laboratory to investigate the genetic basis of neuroplasticity in the pain sensing neurons and nerve pathways that produce persistent pain.

The group recently discovered that plasticity of one of nine major sodium channel genes that control excitability of pain sensing nerves plays a role in persistent pain, and they are now producing targeted deletion of this and other genes of interest to identify their role and the potential for developing better approaches to their manipulation in persistent pain states.