The neural development of pain processing

Professor Maria Fitzgerald, BA, PhD, FMedSci

Professor of Developmental Neurobiology

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 1303 (x31303)
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7383 0929
Email: m.fitzgerald@ucl.ac.uk

Lab Members:

Dr Gareth Hathway (g.hathway@ucl.ac.uk)
Dr Rachel Ingram (rachel.ingram@ucl.ac.uk)
Dr Rebeccah Slater (r.slater@ucl.ac.uk)
Dr David Vega Avelaira (ucgadve@ucl.ac.uk)
Dr Suellen Walker (suellen.walker@ich.ucl.ac.uk)
Ms Stephanie Koch (s.koch@ucl.ac.uk)
Ms. Lucie Low (l.low@ucl.ac.uk)
Ms Laura Cornelissen (l.cornelissen@ucl.ac.uk)
Ms Jacqueta Meredith-Middleton (j.meredith-middleton@ucl.ac.uk)
Ms. Sian Roberts (s.roberts@ucl.ac.uk)

Maria Fitzgerald graduated in Physiological Sciences at Oxford University and studied for a PhD in Physiology at UCL. She was awarded a postdoctoral MRC training fellowship to work with Professor Patrick Wall in the Cerebral Functions Group at UCL and remained in that group as a postdoctoral fellow until starting her own research group in the Anatomy & Developmental Biology Dept at UCL. She became a Professor of Developmental Neurobiology in 1995 and was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2000. Maria is Scientific Director of the Paediatric Pain Research Centre at UCL www.pprg.ucl.ac.uk , and is a member of a number of research boards including the Medical Research Council Neurosciences and Mental Health Board, the Scientific Board of the Migraine Trust and the French National Research Agency (ANR). She is an Editorial Board member of ‘Pain’ and of ‘Pain Research and Clinical Management. Maria has published over 130 research papers and reviews in the area of pain neurobiology.

Research Interests

The neurobiological processes which underlie the development of pain pathways
(i) the maturation of central excitatory and inhibitory synaptic responses in postnatal dorsal horn and brain stem (ii) the development of central processes underlying hyperalgesia and allodynia (iii) mechanisms underlying analgesic action in immature pain pathways (iv) central plasticity underlying nerve damage and neuropathic pain in infancy (v) the structural and functional effects of acute and persistent pain and injury upon the developing spinal cord
The developmental neurophysiology of pain in infants and children
(i) Cortical, brainstem and spinal pain processing in preterm infants (ii) Postoperative hyperalgesia and allodynia in human infants (iii) The efficacy of analgesics in human infants (iv) The long term consequences of infant pain and injury on sensory processing.

Research Papers (from 2002)

Slater R, Cantarella A, Yoxen J, Patten D, Potts H, Meek J, Fitzgerald M. Latency to facial expression change following noxious stimulation in infants is dependent on postmenstrual age. Pain. 2009 Aug 12. [Epub ahead of print]
Li J, Walker SM, Fitzgerald M, Baccei ML. Activity-dependent Modulation of Glutamatergic Signaling in the Developing Rat Dorsal Horn by Early Tissue Injury. J Neurophysiol. 2009 Aug 12. [Epub ahead of print]
Slater R, Worley A, Fabrizi L, Roberts S, Meek J, Boyd S, Fitzgerald M. Evoked potentials generated by noxious stimulation in the human infant brain. Eur J Pain. 2009 May 28. [Epub ahead of print]
Hathway GJ, Vega-Avelaira D, Moss A, Ingram R, Fitzgerald M. Brief, low frequency stimulation of rat peripheral C-fibres evokes prolonged microglial-induced central sensitization in adults but not in neonates. Pain. 2009 Jul;144(1-2):110-8.
Hathway GJ, Koch S, Low L, Fitzgerald M. The changing balance of brainstem-spinal cord modulation of pain processing over the first weeks of rat postnatal life. J Physiol. 2009 Jun 15;587(Pt 12):2927-35.
Moss A, Ingram R, Koch S, Theodorou A, Low L, Baccei M, Hathway GJ, Costigan M, Salton SR, Fitzgerald M. Origins, actions and dynamic expression patterns of the neuropeptide VGF in rat peripheral and central sensory neurones following peripheral nerve injury. Mol Pain. 2008 Dec 10;4:62.
Walker SM, Franck LS, Fitzgerald M, Myles J, Stocks J, Marlow N. Long-term impact of neonatal intensive care and surgery on somatosensory perception in children born extremely preterm. Pain. 2009 Jan;141(1-2):79-87. Epub 2008 Nov 20.
Ririe DG, Bremner LR, Fitzgerald M. Comparison of the immediate effects of surgical incision on dorsal horn neuronal receptive field size and responses during postnatal development. Anesthesiology. 2008 Oct;109(4):698-706.
Slater R, Cantarella A, Franck L, Meek J, Fitzgerald M. How well do clinical pain assessment tools reflect pain in infants? PLoS Med. 2008 Jun 24;5(6):e129.
KOCH SC, FITZGERALD M, HATHWAY, G (2008) Midazoalm potentiates nociceptive behaviour, sensitizes cutaneous reflexes and is devoid of sedative action in neonatal rats. Anesthesiology 108 108:122-9.
WALKER SM & FITZGERALD M. (2007) Characterisation of spinal alpha-adrenergic modulation of nociceptive transmission and hyperalgesia throughout postnatal development. Br J Pharmacol. 151:1334-42.
SCHMELZLE-LUBIECKI B, CAMPBELL KA, HOWARD RH, FRANCK L AND FITZGERALD M (2007) Long term consequences of early infant injury and trauma upon somatosensory processing. Eur J Pain 11:799-809.
MOSS A, BEGGS S, VEGA-AVELAIRA D, COSTIGAN M, HATHWAY GJ, SALTER MW, FITZGERALD M. (2007) Spinal microglia and neuropathic pain in young rats. Pain128:215-24.
VEGA-AVELAIRA D, MOSS A, FITZGERALD M. (2007) Age-related changes in the spinal cord microglial and astrocytic response profile to nerve injury. Brain Behav Immun. 21:617-23.
SLATER R, CANTARELLA A, GALLELLA S, WORLEY A, BOYD S, MEEK J, FITZGERALD M. (2006) Cortical pain responses in human infants. J Neurosci. 26:3662-6.
PATTINSON D, BACCEI M, KARANDOTTIR R, TORSNEY C, MOSS A, MCCUTCHEON J, GIESE KP, FITZGERALD M. (2006) Aberrant dendritic branching and sensory inputs in the superficial dorsal horn of mice lacking CaMKIIalpha autophosphorylation. Mol Cell Neurosci. 33:88-95.
BREMNER L, FITZGERALD M, BACCEI M. (2006) Functional GABA(A)-receptor-mediated inhibition in the neonatal dorsal horn. J Neurophysiol. 95:3893-7.
WALKER SM, MEREDITH-MIDDLETON J, LICKISS T, MOSS A, FITZGERALD M. (2007) Primary and secondary hyperalgesia can be differentiated by postnatal age and ERK activation in the spinal dorsal horn of the rat pup. Pain. 128:157-68.
ZHAO J, SEEREERAM A, NASSAR MA, LEVATO A, PEZET S, HATHAWAY G, MORENILLA-PALAO C, STIRLING C, FITZGERALD M, MCMAHON SB, RIOS M, WOOD JN; LONDON PAIN CONSORTIUM (2006) Nociceptor-derived brain-derived neurotrophic factor regulates acute and inflammatory but not neuropathic pain. Mol Cell Neurosci. 31):539-48.
WALKER SM, HOWARD RF, KEAY KA, FITZGERALD M (2005) Developmental age influences the effect of epidural dexmedetomidine on inflammatory hyperalgesia in rat pups. Anesthesiology 102:1226-34.
MOSS A, ALVARES D, MEREDITH-MIDDLETON J, ROBINSON M, SLATER R, HUNT SP, FITZGERALD M (2005). Ephrin-A4 inhibits sensory neurite outgrowth and is regulated by neonatal skin wounding. Eur J Neurosci. 2005 22:2413-21.
HATHWAY, G., FITZGERALD, M (2005) Time course and dose depenedence of nerve growth factor dependent secondary hyperalgesia in the mouse. Journal of Pain 7 :57-61.
HATHWAY, G., HARROP, J.E., BACCEI, M., WALKER, S., MOSS, A & FITZGERALD M. (2005) A postnatal switch in GABAergic control of spinal cutaneous reflexes. Eur J Neurosci. 23(1):112-8.
BACCEI, M. & FITZGERALD, M (2005) Intrinsic firing properties of developing rat superficial dorsal horn neurons. Neuroreport. 16:1325-8.
HOWARD R, WALKER SM, MOTA M, FITZGERALD M (2005) The ontogeny of neuropathic pain: postnatal onset of mechanical allodynia in rat spared nerve injury (SNI) and chronic constriction injury (CCI) models. Pain 115:382-9.
BACCEI M, FITZGERALD, M (2004) The development of GABAergic and glycinergic transmission in the neonatal rat dorsal horn J Neurosci. 24:4749-57.
WILLIAMS G., HOWARD, RF FITZGERALD M., DICKENSON A (2004) Codeine Analgesia is both genetically and developmentally regulated in the rat. Anaesthesiology 100:92-7.
NANDI R, BEACHAM D, MIDDLETON J, KOLTZENBURG M, HOWARD RF, FITZGERALD M. (2004) The functional expression of mu opioid receptors on sensory neurons is developmentally regulated; morphine analgesia is less selective in the neonate. Pain. 2004 Sep;111(1-2):38-50.
TORSNEY C, FITZGERALD, M (2003) Spinal dorsal horn cell receptive field size is increased in adult rats following neonatal hindpaw skin injury. J Physiol. 550:255-61
WALKER S, MEREDITH-MIDDLETON J, COOKE-YARBOROUGH C, FITZGERALD M (2003) Neonatal inflammation and primary afferent terminal plasticity in the rat dorsal horn. Pain. 105:185-95.
ANDREWS, KA, DESAI D, DHILLON HK, WILCOX DT, FITZGERALD, M.(2002) Abdominal sensitivity in the first year of life: comparison of infants with and without prenatally-diagnosed unilateral hydronephrosis Pain 100:35-46
ANDREWS K, FITZGERALD M. (2002) Wound sensitivity as a measure of analgesic effects following surgery in human neonates and infants. Pain 99:185-192
TORSNEY, C & FITZGERALD M (2002) Age-dependent effects of peripheral inflammation upon the electrophysiological properties of neonatal rat dorsal horn neurons: development of hyperalgesia and allodynia. J Neurophysiol. 87:1311-7.
BEGGS, S, TORSNEY,C, DREW, L, FITZGERALD M. (2002) The postnatal reorganisation of primary afferent input and dorsal horn cell receptive fields in the rat spinal cord is an activity-dependent process Eur J Neurosci. 16:1249-1258.

Reviews

Fitzgerald M. When is an analgesic not an analgesic? Pain. 2009 Jul;144(1-2):9. Epub 2009 Apr 16.
Fitzgerald M, Walker SM. Infant pain management: a developmental neurobiological approach. Nat Clin Pract Neurol. 2009 Jan;5(1):35-50.
SLATER R, FITZGERALD M, MEEK J. (2007) Can cortical responses following noxious stimulation inform us about pain processing in neonates? Semin Perinatol. 31:298-302.
FITZGERALD M (2006) Developing pain pathways and analgesic mechanisms – towards translational studies. In Translational Pain Research Vol.2. Ed Mao J Nova Biomedical, New York pp221-238.
FITZGERALD M, WALKER S. (2006) Infant pain traces. Pain 125:204-5.
SLATER R, BOYD S, MEEK J, FITZGERALD M. (2006) Cortical pain responses in the infant brain. Pain 123:332.
FITZGERALD M (2005) The developmental biology of pain. International Association for the Study of Pain Core Curriculum . www.iasp-pain.org
FITZGERALD M, MACDERMOTT A (2005) The development of pain systems. In The Neurobiology of Pain eds Hunt SB & Koltzenburg M. Oxford University press pp 207-238.
NANDI R, FITZGERALD M (2005) Opioid analgesia in the newborn. Eur J Pain 9:105-8.
FITZGERALD M (2005) The development of nociceptive circuits. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6, 507-520.
FITZGERALD M (2005) The development of pain pathways. Core Curriculum for Professional Development in Pain. Ed J. Edmond Charlton. IASP Press, Seattle.
BACCEI M & FITZGERALD M (2005) Development of pain pathways and mechanisms. In the Textbook of Pain. Eds McMahon SB & Koltzenburg M. Churchill Livingstone pp
FITZGERALD M (2004) Painful beginnings. Pain. 110:508-9
PATTINSON D, FITZGERALD M. (2004) The neurobiology of infant pain: Development of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in the spinal dorsal horn. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 29: 36-44.
FITZGERALD M, HOWARD R (2003) The neurobiological basis of pediatric pain. In Pain in Children and Adolescents, 2nd Edition, Eds. Schechter, N.Berde, C. & Yaster, M. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins pp19-42.
FITZGERALD M , WALKER S (2003) The role of activity in developing pain pathways. Proceedings of the 10th World Congress on Pain. Progress in Pain research and Management, vol.24. Ed JO Dostrovsky, DB Carr & M Koltzenburg. IASP Press, Seattle.

This page last modified October 14, 2009 by Dr Bob Muid