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Chromosome conformation capture (3C) is a biochemical assay to reveal higher order chromosomal organizations mediated by physical contact between discrete DNA segments in vivo. Chromosomal organizations are involved in transcriptional regulation of a number of genes in vario ...

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) is a useful method to isolate specific cells or cell layers of interest from heterogeneous tissues, such as the retina. The collected cells can be used for DNA, RNA, or protein analysis. We have applied LCM technology to isolate cells from the outer nuclear, inner ...

Retinal development is a dynamic process both anatomically and functionally. High-resolution imaging and dynamic monitoring of photoreceptors and inner neurons can provide important information regarding the structure and function of the developing retina. In this chapter, ...

A significant reduction of the escape threshold to mechanical stimulation of the lateral facial skin was observed bilaterally at days 2 and 3 after unilateral complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) administration into parotid gland. A slight reduction of mechanical escape threshold was al ...

Trigeminal Neuralgia (Tic Douloureux) is a neuropathic pain syndrome caused by compression of the trigeminal nerve root and is characterized by severe paroxysms of pain in the face commonly triggered by light mechanical stimulation to the peri-oral area. Trigeminal neuralgia is very d ...

Migraine patients often demonstrate cutaneous allodynia, defined as a hypersensitivity of the skin to touch or mechanical stimuli that are normally innocuous. The allodynia sometimes begins intracranially and spreads, via unknown mechanisms, to extracranial regions. The goal ...

Migraine headaches are debilitatingly painful and poorly managed. Facial allodynia is often associated with migraine, and clinical evidence indicates that it is a critical point in migraine progression. That is, if the migraine can be treated prior to the onset of facial allodynia, the mig ...

The isolated sensory neuron in vitro is a powerful model with which to address a number of important neurobiological questions. Isolated neurons are relatively easy to prepare from both neonatal and adult animals and can be studied both acutely and after considerable time on culture. Intrac ...

Whole-cell patch-clamp recording technique is a powerful tool to study intrinsic membrane properties and synaptic interactions in the spinal cord. Spinal cord slice is an idea preparation for electrophysiological studies under physiological and pharmacological manipula ...

Nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain is a major public health problem worldwide. Current treatment for neuropathic pain has had limited success because the mechanisms that underlie the induction and maintenance of neuropathic pain are incompletely understood. However, rece ...

Pain is a complex sensory experience for which the molecular mechanisms are yet to be fully elucidated. Individual differences in pain sensitivity are mediated by a complex network of multiple gene polymorphisms, physiological and psychological processes, and environmental fac ...

The spinal nerve ligation model of neuropathic pain in rats, as originally described by Kim and Chung (Pain 50:355–363, 1992), provides an excellent venue to study the antinociception and modulation effects of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) current in pain processing. We describe the proced ...

Pain is a major symptom of bone cancer. Bone cancer pain significantly affects quality of life, but its underlying mechanisms have not been defined. Because skeletal metastases are particularly common in patients with prostate cancer, a model that mimics bone cancer pain has been establish ...

After the publication of the First Edition of this book in the series of Methods in Molecular Medicine (volume 99 in the series) in 2004, pain research continues its rapid acceleration until 2009, during which it experienced a plateau of growth that likely resulted from the economic downturn star ...

In this chapter, we describe the usage of this rheumatoid arthritis model to investigate pain-like behavior in mice, including the assessment of clinical changes and the time-dependent changes in nociceptive behavior during disease progresses.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one form of degenerative joint disease characterized by progressive loss of articular cartilage, decreased function and is frequently accompanied by chronic pain. Given the success of arthroplasty as a treatment for late-stage OA, there is considerable inte ...

Pancreatic pain is often severe and difficult to treat clinically. Many animal models that mimic pancreatic pain are typically short term and invasive in nature. The present chapter describes the development and characterization of two non-invasive rat models of pancreatitis, one acu ...

Pathophysiology of peripheral ischemic pain has not been fully demonstrated since the proper animal model has not been established. We designed this study to develop a new thrombus-induced ischemic pain (TIIP) animal model mimicking human peripheral ischemic pain by using ferrous ch ...

Androgens and the androgen receptor (AR) are indispensable for expression of the male phenotype. The two most important androgens are testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone. The elucidation of the mechanism of androgen action has a long history starting in the 19th century with the cl ...

Androgens are critical for normal prostate development and function, as well as prostate cancer initiation and progression. Androgens function mainly by regulating target gene expression through the androgen receptor (AR). Many studies have shown that androgen-AR signaling ex ...