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| Departments and Laboratories: |
 
 
View from the St. Mary's Square (Cracow)
Look at the Royal Cathedral on the Wawel Hill (Cracow)
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Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology
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| Scope of Research
| Methods
| Cooperation
| Research Staff |
Head: Prof. Ryszard Przewłocki
Phone: (+48 12) 66 23 218
E-mail: nfprzewl@cyf-kr.edu.pl
Scope of Research:
- the role of endogenous opioid peptides in physiology and pathology of the central nervous system;
- pharmacological and biochemical analysis of endogenous opioid system activities in acute and chronic nociceptive processes;
- the biochemical and molecular mechanism of neuropathic pain;
- the molecular mechanism of drug tolerance and dependence - the role of membrane receptors, G-protein, second messengers, and transcription factors;
- search for genes regulated by opioids in the nervous system;
- an analysis of adaptive changes in the expression of genes including opioid genes, induced by chronic treatment with drugs of abuse;
- the role of transcription factors in the regulation of opioid peptide gene expression;
- gene silencing using RNA interference (SiRNA).
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Methods
- Behavioural:
analgesia tests for thermal, mechanical and visceral nociceptive stimuli;
tactile allodynia in rats and mice;
animal models of chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain;
animal models of drug tolerance and dependence.
- Stereotaxic brain and spinal cord surgery:
implantation of chronic cannulae in different brain areas;
intrathecal implantations in the spinal cord;
intraventricular and intrastructural microinjections.
- Biochemical:
measurement of gene expression and transcription regulation (in situ hybridization, Northern blot, Western blot;
reverse transcription - real-time polymerase chain reaction, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, in vitro transfection);
gene profiling using gene arrays;
release of neurotransmitters in vitro;
cell cultures;
antisense and SiRNA methods in vitro and in vivo;
computer image analysis (MCID).
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International Cooperation
The Department cooperates with:
- the CNR Institute of Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology in Rome (Italy)
- - studies on actions of psychotropic drugs in genetically different strains of mice;
- the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg (Germany)
- - examining opioid-induced changes in gene expression and opioid receptor internalization;
- the Institute of Biochemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged (Hungary)
- - studies on biological characteristics of novel opioid receptor ligands;
- the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology of the Philipps University in Marburg (Germany)
- - examining the role of spinal cord neuropeptide systems in pathological pain;
- the Rudolph Magnus Institute of the Utrecht University (the Netherlends)
- - studies on the interaction between melanocortin and opioid systems in nociceptive processes.
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Research Staff:
PhD Students:
Engineers, Technicians, and Other Employees:
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