Research Opportunities in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology

ANALGESIOLOGY/RHEUMATIC DISEASE

JON D. LEVINE, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Anatomy and Oral Surgery

Transduction Mechanisms in Sensory Neurons

CNS Mechanisms in Pain and Analgesia

Neural-Endocrine Control of the Immune Response

Dr. Levine’s research is pursuing three major areas. The first area is an investigation of mechanisms that mediate transduction of painful stimuli in sensory neurons. Transduction for both thermal and mechanical stimuli are investigated and mechanisms underlying sensitization of primary afferent neurons are also studied. The second messenger systems and ionic conductances affected during sensitization are being determined. The modulation of transduction by opioids is also being investigated, including the mechanisms underlying opioid tolerance and dependence. Molecular biological, biochemical, in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological and behavioral techniques are employed. He also investigates CNS circuits that mediate analgesia. Studies of these circuits involve analysis of sites in the CNS and neurotransmitters involved. His recent work has described novel CNS circuits that contribute to analgesia. He evaluates neural and endocrine contributions to inflammation and to the immune response. The circuits and mediators that contribute to the expression of immune responses are being analyzed. A negative feedback inhibition of the inflammatory response that involves specific neural and endocrine circuits has recently been discovered.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Akinboboye O, Krantz DS, Kop WJ, Schwartz SD, Levine J, Del Negro A, Karasik P, Berman DS, O'Callahan M, Ngai K, Gottdiener JS. Comparison of mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia in coronary artery disease patients with versus without left ventricular dysfunction. Am J Cardiol, 95(3):322-326, 2005.
Brands DA, Inman AE, Gerba CP, Mare CJ, Billington SJ, Saif LA, Levine JF, Joens LA. Prevalence of Salmonella spp. in oysters in the United States. Appl Environ Microbiol, 71(2):893-897, 2005.
Citrome L, Jaffe A, Levine J. Monotherapy versus polypharmacy for hospitalized psychiatric patients. Am J Psychiatry, 162(3):631; author reply 632-633, 2005.