Methods in Pain Research

In the past two decades, pain research has become one of the most rapidly growing areas of neuroscience activity. The decisions that determine how experiments are designed is of primary importance and the modern researcher must seek such advice together with guidance to search for transient bench protocols in their most useful and recent versions. This volume discusses methods that can be used to study a reaction or 'sensory report' in humans. It surveys the major modern techniques used in studying pain, including gene linkage, brain imaging methods, the use of transgenic rodent models, painful sensory neuropathy models, techniques of microdialysis, large-scale measurement of gene expression and qualitative assessment of receptor mechanisms. The material also covers conventional methods of pain study, such as anatomical and electophysiological techniques. Each topic is presented by one or more of the leading experts in the field.