Disorders of pain sensation due to nerve damage are common, debilitating and difficult to treat. Nerve damage often results in increased sensitivity to painful stimuli and the perception of innocuous stimuli as painful; it may also result in spontaneous pain. Pain is one of the commonest clinical problems, and yet it is often accepted or taken for granted. The outcome of this work will be an increased understanding of the way in which nerve injury leads to spontaneous pain and increased sensitiv ....Disorders of pain sensation due to nerve damage are common, debilitating and difficult to treat. Nerve damage often results in increased sensitivity to painful stimuli and the perception of innocuous stimuli as painful; it may also result in spontaneous pain. Pain is one of the commonest clinical problems, and yet it is often accepted or taken for granted. The outcome of this work will be an increased understanding of the way in which nerve injury leads to spontaneous pain and increased sensitivity to painful stimuli. This will lead in turn to the development of more effective treatments for neuropathic pain.Read moreRead less
The Analgesic Evaluation Of Novel Natural Products From The Australian Plant Barringtonia Acutangula
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$174,500.00
Summary
This project aims to evaluate the analgesic activity of several novel natural products that have been isolated from the Australian plant Barringtonia acutangula. An Australian Aboriginal tribe have been known to use B. acutangula aqueous bark extracts for its analgesic properties. Griffith University researchers have confirmed this biological activity in the crude aqueous bark extract. A large scale extraction and isolation process will obtain the novel compounds in sufficient quantities that wi ....This project aims to evaluate the analgesic activity of several novel natural products that have been isolated from the Australian plant Barringtonia acutangula. An Australian Aboriginal tribe have been known to use B. acutangula aqueous bark extracts for its analgesic properties. Griffith University researchers have confirmed this biological activity in the crude aqueous bark extract. A large scale extraction and isolation process will obtain the novel compounds in sufficient quantities that will allow for their pharmacological evaluation as potential analgesic drugs.Read moreRead less
Thalamic Neuroplasticity And Pain Following Spinal Cord Injury
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$299,520.00
Summary
Pain is a major problem for people with spinal cord injuries and is common, severe and difficult to treat. There is increasing evidence to suggest that pain may be linked to specific changes in some brain regions following a spinal cord injury. Several possible brain changes have been suggested but not investigated fully and have different implications for treatment. This project aims to characterise these brain changes with the purpose of developing novel effective and targeted treatments.
NeuroGame: Can Neuromodulation Of Brain Rhythms Relieve Chronic Pain?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,568,407.00
Summary
The growing number of overdoses and deaths caused by opioids in the therapy of chronic pain shows the urgent need to develop and test novel chronic pain treatments. We will address this need by developing and testing a novel and safe intervention that can provide pain relief via the primary source of pain: the brain. We will use cutting-edge imaging technology to unravel brain mechanism responsible for the recovery of chronic pain, including efforts to prevent rather than relive chronic pain.
Development Of A Novel Orally Active Peptide For The Treatment Of Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$402,145.00
Summary
Chronic pain from damage to the nervous system is difficult to treat. A new type of drug has recently been developed from sea snail venom to treat chronic pain but is given by injection, which limits its use. Our research has developed a stable molecule that has analgesic activity when ingested. This proposal focuses on further testing to fully establish this molecule's therapeutic potential. This information can then attract a commercial partner to bring the new drug into general use.
The fundamental problem with pain is that it cannot be seen. We can see injury, but pain and injury are quite often not related. Brain imaging has demonstrated consistent patterns of activity when we feel pain, and long-term changes that happen in chronic, i.e. persistent, painful disorders. This project will use the best technology available to investigate the basics of how our brains perceive pain, and to shed light on some of the brain mechanisms that underpin chronic pain.
Chronic pain from damage to the nervous system is extremely debilitating and notoriously difficult to treat. The current drug of choice, gabapentin, has serious side effects and only works in two-thirds of patients. We have developed a drug, derived from sea snail venom, that exhibits ten times the activity of gabapentin. This proposal seeks to progress our drug to clinical trials and attract a commercial partner for its development into the market.
Chronic pain affects 1 in 5 Australians and neuropathic pain is among the most severe forms of chronic pain. Several peptides derived from cone snail venoms have attracted recent attention as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of neuropathic pain. One of these, conotoxin MVIIA, has recently been approved in the US and Europe and others, including CVID and ACVI, are in various stages of clinical investigation. These small disulfide rich peptides share the attractive features of peptid ....Chronic pain affects 1 in 5 Australians and neuropathic pain is among the most severe forms of chronic pain. Several peptides derived from cone snail venoms have attracted recent attention as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of neuropathic pain. One of these, conotoxin MVIIA, has recently been approved in the US and Europe and others, including CVID and ACVI, are in various stages of clinical investigation. These small disulfide rich peptides share the attractive features of peptides in general of having exquisite selectivity for particular receptors, but also share the general disadvantages of peptides of short biological half-lives and poor bioavailablility. Stabilisation of these conotoxins has the potential to substantially increase their therapeutic potential. In preliminary studies we have shown that by introducing a circular petide backbone into a conotoxin using a linker sequence we can increase its stability and resistance to enzymatic degradation. We therefore propose that it will be possible to cyclise a wide range of conotoxin molecules and thereby improve their drug like properties. In this project we will use our cyclisation approach to develop new potential treatments for pain from two classes of conotoxins. One of the lead molecules shows oral bioavailability in an animal pain model and potentially represents a major breakthrough in the field of peptide drug delivery.Read moreRead less
New Peptide-based Drugs For The Treatment Of Neuropathic Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$527,171.00
Summary
Chronic pain affects 1 in 5 Australians and neuropathic pain is among the most severe forms of chronic pain. Peptides from cone snail venoms have attracted recent attention as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Unfortunately, these peptides suffer from the disadvantage of short biological half-lives and poor activity when taken orally. We have developed a new approach to solve these problems that we will apply to develop new drugs for the treatment of pain.
Pain has a detrimental impact on ones quality of life and a significant financial impact on the community. It has recently been revealed that chronic pain is associated with altered brain anatomy and function. Using human brain imaging, we aim to determine the underlying reason for these changes by following individuals during the development of pain. Defining the mechanism underlying pain will aid in the development of better treatment regimens.