From Bed to Bench and Back
Dr. Bielefeldt is the recipient of the IFFGD 2003 Research Award to Junior Investigator, Basic Science.
Summary
Physicians are trained to focus on identifying what we call organic diseases – diseases that are caused by bacteria or other infectious organisms we can isolate, structural changes we can determine with endoscopes or x-rays, inflammation we may see with microscopes, or biochemical abnormalities blood tests may reveal. Whatever does not fall into one of these categories, we tend to label functional. My research focuses on how nerve function can change and lead to an increased sensitivity of inner organs. In the clinic, we call this visceral hyperalgesia, in the laboratory, we prefer the terms sensitization or visceral hypersensitivity.
Sometimes initial inflammation can change the function of nerves that send information about the stomach or intestines to the spinal cord and brain. The main goal of our work is to determine whether injury and inflammation changes the way these neurons work, thereby making them more excitable.
Our experiments helped us gain insight into important mechanisms that contribute to the development of symptoms. We and many others have to use this information as we try to identify safe and effective therapies that will come back from the laboratory bench to the bed side.