Prof. Ewan St. John Smith (Cambridge): Joint pain: Mechanisms and Modulation School of Psychology and Neuroscience Friday seminar series

The School of Psychology and Neuroscience seminar series presents a talk by Prof. Ewan St. John Smith (Cambridge) which will be hosted by William Smith accessible online through MS Teams.

Abstract:
Pain arising from the joints in conditions, such as osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), has a significant impact on those living with such conditions and is often the main driver of clinical decision making. Although progress has been made in recent years with development of disease modifying therapies for RA, pain can persist in RA even when inflammation is well controlled, and for OA there are no targeted therapeutics. To develop new therapeutics, it is necessary to better understand the mechanisms through which joint pain occurs, which our lab endeavours to do by focusing on the properties of those neurons innervating the site of injury. However, neurons supplying the joint do not innervate empty space, but rather interact with a myriad of molecules in the synovial fluid, as well as the different cell types present in the joint, such as fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). We have found that FLS can be stimulation by different inflammatory mediators that in turn sensitise neurons and drive pain behaviours, having identified a key role for the proton-sensing G protein-coupled receptor, GPR65. In further work we have used chemogenetic approaches to control neuronal excitability and decrease pain, as well as investigating mechanisms through which mesenchymal stem cells can produce analgesia. In our experiments, we also look to incorporate holistic behavioural analysis, studying evoked pain behaviours alongside how on-going pain affects natural behaviours of mice, like digging. In summary, this talk will summarise both mechanisms through which joint pain occurs, as well as identifying potential routes for pain control.