Course Number & Title: GMS 6711-6576: The Neurobiology of Pain – Room L1-101

Course Director: Roger B. Fillingim, Ph.D.

Catalog Description: The Neurobiology of Pain – Overview of the neurobiology of pain, including peripheral, spinal, subcortical and cortical nociceptive processing.

Course Website: http://www.dental.ufl.edu:1180/Offices/DPH/GMS6711.html

Expanded Course Description: The aims of this course are: 1) To provide an understanding of the complex neurobiological processes involved in sculpting the experience of pain, 2) To provide an overview of methods for investigating pain processing in both humans and nonhuman animals, and 3) To provide a mechanistic understanding of pharmacologic and psychological modulation of pain.

For each topic, the lecturer will present didactic material and will moderate an in-class seminar style student presentation and discussion of the assigned journal article(s). The last class session will include a roundtable discussion with available faculty from the course. In addition, each student will complete a truncated NIH-style research proposal (5 pages total)

Lecture Schedule

Topics / Lecturer / Reading

Week 1 (Monday, August 27th 2 – 5 pm)

1. Introduction

a.  Introduction to the course
b.  The problem of pain (epidemiology)
c.  An overview of nociceptive processing
d.  Common features of clinical pain
e.  Acute versus chronic pain
f.  The biopsychosocial model
g.  The clinical relevance of pain neuroscience
2. Spinal Nociceptive Processing / Roger Fillingim
Rob Caudle / Siddall & Cousins, 2004
Willis (2001)

Week 2 (Monday, Sept. 10th 2 – 5 pm)

1.  Peripheral Neurophysiology of Pain – peripheral afferent processes involved in nociception.
/ Brian Cooper / Cortright, et al. (2004)
2.  Theories of Pain / Don Price / Price (2006)

Week 3 (Monday, Sept. 17th 2 – 5 pm)

1.  Pharmacology of Pain
2.  Mechanisms of chronic pain following peripheral or central injury / Rob Caudle
Bob Yezierski / Martin & Eisenach, 2001
Willis (2002a; 2002b); Woolf & Costigan (2002); Yezierski, et al. (2002)

Week 4 (Monday, Sept. 24th 2 – 5 pm)

1.  Trigeminal pain mechanisms, neurobiological and clinical considerations
2.  Supraspinal Processing of Nociceptive Information – review of subcortical and cortical brain structures involved in nociceptive processing / John Neubert
Andre Mauderli / Levy, et al. (2004)
Handouts & lecture

Week 5 (Monday, Oct. 1nd 3 – 6 pm; **papers due**)

1.  Pain Modulation in Humans - a review of factors influencing pain modulation in humans, including methods for inducing and assessing pain modulation.
2.  Roundtable Discussion: Future Challenges and Opportunities in Pain Research / Roger Fillingim
Faculty / Jones, et al. (2003)
Coghill et al. (2003)

Evaluation of Student Performance: Grading will be based on the following factors.

1)  In-class participation in discussion of journal articles: 50%

2)  The written truncated NIH research proposal: 50%

Faculty: Dr. Roger Fillingim and Dr. Robert Caudle will serve as the course directors, and they will be assisted by several other members of the Graduate Faculty in the presentation of course material.

Required Readings: Recent empirical articles from high quality peer-reviewed journals (e.g. Neuroscience, Anesthesiology, Pain, Science) will be assigned by each presenter. There will be no required textbook for this course.

Contact Information:

Roger Fillingim

Room 5187, 1329 Building

Phone: 273-5963

Fax: 273-5985

Email:

Outline for Truncated NIH Research Proposal

Content: Can be related to your ongoing research, but must have some relevance to the neurobiology of pain.

Format:

Single spaced

At least 11 point font

.5” margin on all sides

Page Limit Guidelines:

a.   Specific Aims & Hypotheses (½ - 1 page)

b.   Background & Significance (1 – 1 ½ pages)

c.   Preliminary Studies, if applicable (½ - 1 page)

d.   Research Deign and Methods (1 – 2 pages)

  1. Include data analysis plan and anticipated results

g.   Literature Cited (not included in page limit)

2