Michael Costigan, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Anesthesia Research Neural Plasticity Research Group Harvard Medical School 149 13th Street, Rm. 4309 Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129-2000 E-mail: COSTIGAN@HELIX.MGH.HARVARD.EDU TEL: 617-724-3614 FAX: 617-724-3632

Research Summary

We are using oligonucleotide microarrays to analyze the transcriptional response of primary sensory neurons as well as second order neurons of the spinal cord to peripheral nerve damage and chronic inflammation. Primarily we worked with the arrays to set up the experimental conditions needed to obtain reliable data on mass (Costigan).
Further work has concentrated on developing experimental strategies to use the arrays to their best advantage (Griffin). Indeed one of the first functional studies developed from the array data is the discovery that GTP Cyclohydrolase I is a central pain determining gene in rodents and humans (Tegeder). Current work builds functional detail into gene pathways identified by the arrays as well as designing new protocols to best use the experimental power that arrays provide.

Selected Articles

Moss et al.  Spinal microglia and neuropathic pain in young rats.  Pain 2007 128 (3): 215-24.
Tegeder, Costigan et al.  GTP cyclohydrolase and tetrahydrobiopterin regulate pain sensitivity and persistence.  Nature Medicine 2006; 12(11): 1269-1277
Costigan, Befort et al.  Replicate high-density rat genome oligonucleotide microarrays reveal hundreds of regulated genes in the dorsal root ganglion after peripheral nerve injury.  BMC Neurosci 2002 Oct 25;3(1).

Selected Reviews
Griffin et al.  Exploiting microarrays to reveal differential gene expression in the nervous system.  Genome Biology 2003 4(2): 105.
Costigan & Woolf.  Pain – Molecular Mechanisms.  J Pain 2000, 1(S1), 35-44.
Woolf & Costigan.  Transcriptional and post-translational plasticity and the generation of inflammatory pain.  Proc Natl Acad Sci 1999, 96, 7723-7730.

Selected Chapters
Costigan, Scholz, Samad & Woolf.  Pain. In: Basic Neurochemistry, 7th Edition. Siegel GJ, Albers RW, Brady S, Price DL. ed, 2006 Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Costigan.  Microarray Gene Expression Profiling – Defining the Molecular Mechanisms of Pain. In: Pain 2005 an updated review. Justins DM. ed, 2005 IASP Press. Seattle.
Costigan, Griffin & Woolf.  Microarray Analysis of the Pain Pathway. The Genetics of Pain.  Jeffrey S. Mogil, ed 2004, IASP Press, Seattle

Selected Web

Costigan & Iadarola. Gambling With Gene Chips In: Medscape Conference Coverage, Web MD, 2004.

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