NIH R01 · 2025
Synaptic Function within Mature Central Pain Networks after Neonatal Injury
Project Summary/Abstract Infants admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) regularly experience tissue damage as part of their essential medical care. Preclinical studies have shown that neonatal injury causes a prolonged reorganization of synaptic circuits in the mouse spinal superficial dorsal horn (SDH), enhances neuroimmune signaling in the adult spinal cord, and exacerbates chronic pain following repeat injury later in life via a process called ‘neonatal priming’. Astrocytes are strong candidates to mediate neonatal priming since they are known to tightly regulate synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning, neuronal excitability and neuroinflammation in the CNS, and contribute to the…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.