Editor’s note: This is the 16th in a series of weekly PRF seminars designed to help keep the pain research community connected during the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide all members of our community with virtual educational opportunities. The seminar series is supported by the Center for Advanced Pain Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, US.
On Monday, August 24, 2020, the IASP Pain Research Forum hosted a seminar with Luis Queme, MD, PhD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, US. A Q&A session moderated by Thomas Graven-Nielsen, DMSc, PhD, Aalborg University, Denmark, followed the presentation.
- Luis Queme, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, US
- Thomas Graven-Nielsen, Aalborg University, Denmark
A recording of this seminar will soon be freely available to IASP members at the IASP Pain Education Resource Center (PERC).
Here is an abstract from Dr. Queme
Primary sensory neurons innervating skeletal muscle perform a variety of functions. Specifically, thinly myelinated, and unmyelinated neurons (group III and IV afferents, respectively), can transduce both noxious and non-noxious information into the CNS. These afferents also work as the sensory arm of the exercise pressor reflex, a complex response that involves increased heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate in response to muscle activity. In this seminar I will first discuss how muscle sensory neurons perceive the internal environment of the muscle and how they respond to ischemic injury of skeletal muscle. Potential mechanisms of these responses will then be discussed with a particular focus on the upregulated receptors, followed by details on how these receptors simultaneously modulate both pain perception and the cardiovascular response secondary to exercise. Finally, I will discuss how we can target these mechanisms as potential treatments for ischemic myalgias.
About the presenter
Luis Queme, MD, PhD, is an instructor of anesthesia at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He obtained his MD from the Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala City, and then earned his PhD working with Dr. Kazue Mizumura at Nagoya University in Japan. His postdoctoral work was completed under the direction of Dr. Michael Jankowski at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Since his graduate student days, his focus has been in the basic mechanisms of musculoskeletal pain perception, first exploring the role of growth factors in the development of delayed onset muscle soreness, and as a postdoctoral fellow studying how primary sensory neurons modulate both pain and cardiovascular reflexes after ischemic injuries. His work has been supported by scholarships from the Japanese Ministry of Education Science and Technology, and by a fellowship from the American Heart Association.
About the moderator
Thomas Graven-Nielsen, DMSc, PhD, is director of the Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark, and a full professor in pain neuroscience. His research focuses on translational studies of musculoskeletal pain, bridging the gap between basic animal findings and clinical manifestations of pain. The aim is to identify and modulate key features of human pain neuroplasticity leading to prevention of maladaptive neuroplasticity, and promote advantageous neuroplasticity. Development of pain models, biomarkers, and assessment technologies are key biomedical tools for the translational studies. Core areas are muscle pain, joint pain, referred pain, localized and widespread deep-tissue hyperalgesia, pharmacological screening, and electrophysiological techniques to assess muscle pain physiology and neuroplasticity.
Join the conversation about the seminar on Twitter @PainResForum #PRFSeminar
We thank the Center for Advanced Pain Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, US, for its support of the PRF seminar series.
