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Vahn A. Lewis, Pharm.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Telephone: 713.500.4517
E-mail: vahn.a.lewis@uth.tmc.edu

See Also: Dr. Lewis' Website

Neurobiological Basic of Pain and Analgesia

Spinal Nucleus of the Trigeminal Nerve after third molar extraction in a rat. Light dots are nuclie of cells activated by the extraction (performed under anesthesia) as revealed by an antibody to the nuclear protein CFOS. CFOS is a sensitive marker of neural activity in many mammalian neurons and is produced in this localized region of the brainstem after tooth extraction.

Of the billions of neurons in the brain, how can the few responding to injury pain (such as a tooth ache or dental extraction) be identified for further study. One way is to use labled antibodies to localize cells stimulated after injury. This approach can also improves the quality of information obtained when using other techniques such as electrophysiology or osmotic exchange sampling for neurotransmitters.

Selected Reading

Lewis, VA. (1990) Toward objective measures of post surgical pain: Naloxone and EEG spectral analysis in rats. Society for Neuroscience. November 1990.

Lewis, VA. (1991) Power Spectrum (PS) analysis of electrostatic wire detector detects post-surgical movement deficit in the rat. Society for Neuroscience. New Orleans, LA. November 1991.

Lewis, VA. (1998) Parabrachial nuclear c-Fos labeling correlates to trigeminal nucleus cfos following dental extraction. #15.16, Society for Neruosciences Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, November 1998. Society for Neuroscience, 24, 387.

Search PubMed for additional articles.