IASP PRF Seminar – Effects of Gonadal Hormones on Serotonergic Modulation of Trigeminal Nociceptors

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Description

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The IASP Pain Research Forum will host a seminar with Dayna Averitt, PhD, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, US. A Q&A session moderated by Richard Traub, PhD, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Baltimore, US, will follow the presentation.

Here is an abstract from Dr. Averitt
Approximately a quarter of the population experiences craniofacial pain mediated by the trigeminal neurosensory system. Many trigeminal pain disorders such as migraine, TMD pain, burning mouth syndrome, and trigeminal neuralgia are two-to-four times more common in women. One theory for the prevalence of trigeminal pain disorders in females is hormone modulation of trigeminal pain mechanisms. While there is a rich literature implicating gonadal hormones in the modulation of trigeminal pain, the literature is complex and controversial on whether estrogen enhances or reduces pain. Within this realm, our recent work has focused on determining the effects of estradiol on serotonergic neuroimmune modulation of trigeminal nociceptors. In the periphery, serotonin is a pronociceptive and proinflammatory mediator released by a variety of immune cells and activates and sensitizes trigeminal nociceptors. This seminar will present recent findings from our lab that indicate that estradiol modulates serotonergic nociceptive signaling in the trigeminal system that is dependent on the estrous cycle, dosage and timing of estradiol treatment, involves the nuclear estrogen receptors, and that serotonin and estradiol target both macrophages and trigeminal nociceptors to modulate trigeminal pain.

Contributors

Dayna Averitt, PhD

Dayna Loyd Averitt, PhD, earned her BA in biological psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in Biological Sciences from Georgia State University, where she worked with Anne Murphy, PhD, in discovering sex differences in the anatomy and physiology of the descending inhibitory circuitry underlying opioid analgesia. As a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Ken Hargreaves, DDS, PhD at UT Health San Antonio, she studied peripheral inflammatory mechanisms underlying craniofacial pain. She then worked as Principal Investigator at the US Army Institute for Surgical Research studying burn pain before joining the faculty at Texas Woman’s University in 2014. Dr. Averitt is currently Associate Professor of Biology at TWU where her lab has been studying sex differences in craniofacial pain mechanisms. In particular, her research is currently focused on the role of gonadal hormones in serotonergic neuromodulation of trigeminal nociceptors. Her work in this area is supported by a NIH NIDCR R15 AREA grant. You can follow her on Twitter @DrAveritt.
Richard Traub, PhD

Richard J. Traub, PhD, is Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Neural and Pain Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. He has been studying pain for nearly 40 years and has focused on visceral pain since the early 1990s. He is an expert on sex differences and the role of stress in visceral pain and underlying mechanisms. His lab developed the only animal model of chronic overlapping pain conditions focusing on temporomandibular disorder and irritable bowel syndrome. Current projects look at: 1) the role of peripheral and central sensitization and associated changes in gene expression to gain mechanistic insight into the development of chronic overlapping pain conditions; 2) combining behavioral and multiple imaging techniques (fMRI, mass spec imaging of brain sections) to identify novel targets for therapeutic intervention to treat comorbid pain conditions; and 3) neuroimmune interactions that allow for pain alleviation while maintaining immunosufficiency.