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Rami Burstein, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Anaesthesia

Harvard Medical School
Harvard Institutes of Medicine
Anesthesia & Critical Care, BIDMC
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur
Boston, MA 02115
Telephone: 617-667-0806
Fax: 617-975-5324
Email: rburstei@caregroup.harvard.edu
Predocs: 1 Postdocs: 0 Completed PhD's: 0

Rami Burstein

People who experience chronic pain often encounter affective changes (e.g., stress, anxiety, depression, anger, disturbed sleep and reduced appetite) that bring about suffering and impair their life quality. To reduce their suffering it is essential to understand better the way in which pain inflicts emotional changes. We are using a variety of approaches and pain models to determine how nociceptive information reaches brain areas involved in autonomic, endocrine and affective regulation. In initial experiments, we identified direct projections of trigeminal brainstem and spinal cord neurons to the hypothalamus, amygdala and other limbic structures. The distribution of these neurons suggest that specific pathways in the central nervous system are capable of mediating affective-motivational responses to pain felt in all internal and external organs in the body. Recent studies in our lab demonstrate the plasticity of these nociceptive pathways by showing how persistent head pain (headache, migraine) causes long-term changes in the physiological properties of peripheral and central neurons that innervate the menninges. These findings aim at providing a better understanding of the clinical symptoms associated with persistent head pain. Current experiments focus on the role of inflammatory mediators in producing these changes and the possible mechanisms. Other studies focus on physiological and anatomical properties of trigeminal neurons that project to the hypothalamus and their role in autonomic regulation. These studies use a variety of neuroanatomical and neurophysiological techniques.

 

References:

  • Burstein R, Dado RJ, Cliffer KD and Giesler GJ Jr. (1991) Physiological characterization of spinohy-pothalamic tract neurons in the lumbar enlargement of the rat. J. Neurophysiol. 66:261-284.
  • Burstein R and Potrebic S (1993) Retrograde labeling of neurons in the spinal cord that project directly to the amygdala or the orbital cortex in the rat. J. Comp. Neurol. 335:469-485.
  • Strassman AM, Mineta Y, Naderi S, Vos BP, Borsook D and Burstein R (1993) Fos-like immunoreactivity in the superficial medullary dorsal horn induced by noxious and innocuous thermal stimulation of facial skin in the rat. J. Neurophysiol. 70:1811-1821.
  • Fields HL, Malick A and Burstein R (1995) Dorsal horn projection targets of On and Off cells in the rostral ventromedial medulla. J. Neurophysiol. 74:1742-1759.
  • Burstein R (1996) Somatosensory and visceral input to the hypothalamus and limbic system. Holstege G, Bandler R and Saper CB (Eds.) The emotional motor system. Elsevier, Amsterdam (pp. 257-268).
  • Burstein R, Falkowsky O, Borsook D and Strass-man A (1996) Distinct lateral and medial projections of the spinohypothalamic tract of the rat. J. Comp. Neurol 373:549-574.
  • Strassman AM, Raymond SA and Burstein R (1996) Sensitization of meningeal sensory neurons and the origin of headaches. Nature 384:560-564.