Journal Club Meeting February 24, 2015

Location:  Dental Sciences Building, Room D7-11

Greetings,

Chronic alcohol consumption produces painful peripheral neuropathy for which there is no reliable successful therapy, mainly due to lack of understanding of its pathobiology. Alcoholic neuropathy is believed to involve damage to nerves that results from long term excessive drinking of alcohol and is characterized by spontaneous burning pain, hyperalgesia and allodynia. The mechanism behind alcoholic neuropathy is not well understood, but several explanations have been proposed. These include activation of spinal cord microglia after chronic alcohol consumption, oxidative stress leading to free radical damage to nerves, activation of mGlu5 receptors in the spinal cord and activation of the sympathoadrenal and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Nutritional deficiency (especially thiamine deficiency) and/or the direct toxic effect of alcohol or both have also been implicated in alcohol-induced neuropathic pain. A major reason for the lack of understanding of this condition is the absence of research interest  and focus on what has been described as a consequence of the most commonly used substance in the world. This is an interesting topic and one that should generate a lively discussion that will be led by Dr. Jeff Boissoneault.

I want to remind everyone that pain journal club is a great educational opportunity that provides something for all who attend. I encourage all students, trainees and faculty to attend and present papers in their area of interest. I guarantee you that no matter what the topic there will always be an interesting discussion……so join us for what promises to be another great year with a little something for everyone.

Please circulate to those you think might be interested in this topic!!

Hope to see everyone next week!!

Chopra and Tiwari 2012
Ferrari et al. 2013