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Abstract

Grant Number:	5K01AT001111-05
Project Title:	Mechanisms of Acupuncture Analgesia

PI Information:	Name	Email	Title
	HARRIS, RICHARD E.	reharris@med.umich.edu	RESEARCH SCIENTIST

Abstract: DESCRIPTION (adapted from the application): Pain is one of the major complaints of those seeking professional healthcare. Although recent advances have been made in pharmacological and invasive approaches to relief pain, many patients suffering pain chose alternative healing modalities, such as acupuncture. This application focuses on determining the neurobiological mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia (the relief of pain) in people who suffer from fibromyalgia (FM), a chronic pain condition. All proposed work will occur at the University of Michigan. The first year of funding of this proposed K award would coincide with the final year of funding of the R01 grant, allowing an opportunity to use both the research subjects and information from the existing grant to obtain preliminary data for the remainder of the K award. During the first two years of the K award, the applicant will: 1) establish the ideal conditions for acupuncture induced analgesia, and 2) begin to elucidate the mechanisms of acupuncture induced analgesia by using both psychophysical and fMRI experiments. In the final three years of the K award, the applicant will focus on the techniques that show the most promise for elucidating neural mechanisms underlying the analgesia. Comparisons will be drawn between analgesia of patient?s clinical spontaneous pain as well as evoked pain. In addition to clinical research experience, the applicant will attend didactic lectures, seminars, and conferences designed to increase his knowledge of clinical research. Although the applicant already has training in acupuncture and a strong basic research training in neuroscience, this career development program is designed to allow the Candidate to become a successful independent clinical investigator. There is a strong institutional commitment to see the applicant succeed in this task due to a tremendous need for well-trained clinical investigators in alternative and complementary medicine.

Public Health Relevance:
This Public Health Relevance is not available.

Thesaurus Terms:
acupuncture /acupressure, alternative medicine, analgesia, fibromyalgia, human therapy evaluation, musculoskeletal disorder therapy, pain
psychophysiology
clinical research, functional magnetic resonance imaging, human subject, patient oriented research

Institution:	UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
	3003 SOUTH STATE STREET, Room 1040
	ANN ARBOR, MI 481091274
Fiscal Year:	2006
Department:	INTERNAL MEDICINE
Project Start:	15-SEP-2002
Project End:	29-FEB-2008
ICD:	NATIONAL CENTER FOR COMPLEMENTARY & ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
IRG:	ZAT1

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