Improving the science
and practice of anesthesia

For over twenty years, the UC Department of Anesthesiology has had an active research program emphasizing both clinical and basic science aspects of anesthesia.

Advancing the
science of anesthesia

Chronic pain conditions such as neuropathic pain are very common and can last a lifetime, persisting long after the initial damage to the nerve has healed. Chronic pain conditions involve complex, orchestrated changes in the sensory neurons and their synaptic targets. These changes include abnormal electrical activity, alterations in ion channels and transmitters, and sensitization of the pain pathways in the spinal cord and brain. We are currently investigating the role of cytokines in pain. We have developed new animal models involving compression and/or inflammation of the sensory ganglia. These models are particularly relevant to understanding low back pain. We have found that several inflammatory cytokines are upregulated in these models, with a time course that parallels the development of pain behaviors. Our aim is to understand the possible causal roles of these cytokines in abnormal pain states, with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic targets for chronic pain. We use a number of techniques, including electrophysiology, animal behavior, microscopy, and biochemical and molecular methods. In a related project, we are also investigating the role and causes of the abnormal sympathetic sprouting into the sensory ganglia that exacerbates many chronic pain states.

Active projects:

Study of Activity-Dependent Sympathetic Sprouting

Axonal Regeneration in the Chronically Injured Spinal Cord

Mechanisms of Hyperglycemia-Induced Mechanical Hyperalgesia

Pending Projects:

Neural and Chemical Basis of Pathologic Pain

Neuroinflammation and Cooperative Excitotoxin Production

Clinical research

Our faculty conduct clinical research at University Hospital, Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the Shriners Hospitals in an effort to improve anesthesia outcomes ranging from postoperative nausea to postoperative blindness. Their current focus is the improvement of anesthesia outcomes. Areas of study include:

The use of visual evoked potentials during spinal surgery to study postoperative ischemic optic neuropathy.
Conducting acute and chronic pain control protocols, including a collaborative effort with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for multidisciplinary evaluation and treatment of patients with failed temporomandibular joint implants.

Phase II through Phase IV clinical trails are conducted to evaluate anesthetics, analgesics and medical devices. Fellows may participate in these trials if they wish.

Well ranked and well funded

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine excels in medical research. In 2000, four of its departments ranked among the top 10 departments of their kind nationally in terms of money provided to faculty by the National Institutes of Health. Grants for the UC College of Medicine totaled more than $86 million in 2000. Research grant funding for Children’s Hospital Research Foundation, whose members are UC College of Medicine faculty, totaled more than $46 million.