Professor Toshiaki Kume, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Tsugunobu Andoh, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Daisuke Uta, Ph.D.
Pain and itch are bio-warning signals and important for keeping healthy living, but patients often visit a doctor's office because of severe pain or itch. Analgesia is a goal for therapy in patients with chronic pain such as neuropathic pain and itch relief is a main aim of treatment in patients with pruritic diseases such as atopic dermatitis. The purpose of our research is to contribute to the treatment of patients suffering pain or itch. Therefore, pain and itch are two main research subjects of our laboratory. We have developed many mouse models of pain and itch, which are used to reveal the mechanisms of pain and itch. They are also used to assess the efficacies of analgesics/adjuvant analgesics and anti-pruritic drugs and to elucidate the mechanisms of analgesic and anti-pruritic actions of agents. Mouse models which we are using are as follows :
With regard to natural medicines, we are now investigating the effects of several natural medicines on pain of peripheral neuropathy induced by anti-neoplastic agents such as paclitaxel and oxaliplatin. We are also studying the effects of several natural medicines on itch of atopic dermatitis.
Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama
2630 Sugitani, Toyama-shi 930-0194, Phone: 076-434-2281 (main number)
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