Al-Chaer lab (ACELABTM:
http://www.uams.edu/acelab)
ealchaer@uams.edu Research at ACELABTM
explores the plastic neural changes associated with or
residual to neonatal injury. The lab's team has focused its studies on the
long-term effects of visceral injury in neonatal rats on neural and functional
outcomes in adults. They use a model of neonatal colon inflammation or pain to
study the development and experience-dependant plasticity of sensory-motor
circuitry, particularly the permanent structural, functional and behavioral
alterations in the adult organism. Observation of adult rats exposed to neonatal
colon injury has shown that these rats often exhibit symptoms of chronic
visceral and somatic hypersensitivity associated with neural sensitization
throughout the neuraxis, in addition to decreased exploratory behavior and
disturbances in a number of metabolic functions. These symptoms mimic in large
part those seen in patients with some of the most puzzling human functional
disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome or
fibromyalgia. The clinical implication of these findings is tremendously
important, in that many functional behavioral disorders find their roots in
neonatal sensory overload or deprivation. The ultimate aim is to identify
specific functional circuits in the nervous system and the neurotransmitters
they employ in an attempt to explain some of the complex syndromes of adult
functional behaviors in terms of neonatal experiences and developmental
anomalies.
ACELABTM
employs a wide range of technologies, from physiological recordings
of blood pressure, respiratory responses and thermoregulation, to
electrophysiological analysis of muscular contractions, single neuron activity,
afferent fibers activity and neuronal tract tracing to brain imaging and Smart
video tracking combined with protein and gene expression and pharmacological
intervention.
Dr. Al-Chaer's research has appeared in more than 70 publications (abstracts,
book chapters and papers), and has made news on more than one occasion. It is
funded by generous grants from the National Institutes of Health in the USA (NINDS
and NIDDK) and a number of collaborative research programs with pharmaceutical
companies.
To learn more about research at ACELABTM, we invite you to read some of Dr.
Al-Chaer's papers or visit his lab's website at
http://www.uams.edu/acelab.
|
