Patrick M. Dougherty, Ph.D.

1988, The University of Texas-Houston, GSBS

UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Anesthesiology and Pain Management

Research Interests: Neurobiology, neurophysiology and neuropharmacology of the spinal dorsal horn; forebrain mechanisms of somatosensation and hyperalgesia; mechanisms of central pain; neural mechanisms of hyperalgesia, chronic fatigue and cognitive impairment due to cancer and cancer therapies; psychophysics and functional imaging of acute, neuropathic and cancer pain in humans

The research in my laboratories is focused on gaining a multidisciplinary understanding of the neurochemical and physiological consequences of peripheral injury and inflammation on neural activity in the CNS. There are several on-going projects related to this broad issue that provide the opportunity for students to participate in studies on subjects ranging from mice to humans and using techniques ranging from passive behavioral (psychophysical) analysis to acute in vivo and in vitro neurophysiological studies to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

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Lenz FA, Dougherty PM (1998) Neurons in the human thalamic principal somatosensory nucleus (Ventralis caudalis, Vc) respond to innocuous cool and mechanical stimuli. J Neurophysiol 79:2227-2230.

Dougherty PM, Schwartz A, Lenz FA (1999) Sensitization of primate spinomesenchephalic cells by intradermal capsaicin. Neuroscience 90:1377-1392.

Weng HR, Mansikka H, Winchurch R, Raja SN, Dougherty PM (2000) Role of NK1 receptors in acute pain and central sensitization in the spinal cord induced by mustard oil: a study on NK1 receptor knockout mice. J Neurophys (in press)

Weng HR, Dougherty PM (2000) Receptive field properties and spike-burst responses to intracellular current injection in dorsal horn neurons. In: Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Pain (Devor M, Rowbotham MC, Weisenfeld-Hallin Z, Eds) Seattle:IASP Press (in press)

Program Affiliations:
Program in Neuroscience