Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Principal Investigator
Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute
Columbia University
(March 29, 2022)
Towards Mechanism for Pain and Pleasure in Mice
Sometimes a hug or even a quick squeeze of a hand from a friend is exactly what we need to lift our spirits. But that hug or hand squeeze from a stranger may not have the same effect. Dr. Abdus-Soboor is using a mouse model to explore how sensory neurons on the skin signals the brain as to which touch is rewarding and which is not. He also discussed a new method his lab has developed to measure pain in the mouse, opening the doors to study the biological basis of individual responses to pain.
Development of Platforms to Measure Pain in Rodents
Distinguishing between the sensory and emotional states of pain in animals has been extremely challenging because traditional measurements of pain provide limited resolution. We use fast imaging, computation and mathematics to overcome this problem. An innovation in our work is recording subsecond behaviors in freely behaving mice and analyzing the data with artificial intelligence (AI) to measure pain sensation and affect. We couple AI with software development and statistical modeling to develop mouse "pain scales." This technology allowed us to measure, in an automated and unbiased manner, pain sensation versus affect in the non-verbal mouse. Now that we have the ability to objectively measure pain in mice, a new direction for our lab is to determine how the brain and genome control the biological basis of individual sensitivity to pain.
The Role of Sensory Neurons in Rewarding and Therapeutic Social Touch
Social touch is critical to relational bonds. A hug from a relative or friend evokes strong feelings of reward. Despite this general appreciation, the question remains, "How is social touch rewarding?" Although the intact nervous system faithfully transmits information about rewarding touch from skin-to-brain at rapid speed, the molecular logic of how this process works remains unknown. Here, we are using mouse genetics to test for necessity and sufficiency of molecular classes of peripheral sensory neurons in promoting normal development, resilience and the rewarding nature of social interactions. Ongoing studies are connecting the skin and brain in vivo, by manipulating peripheral circuits while recording neuronal activity across the brain to uncover molecular details of skin-to-brain circuitry for rewarding social touch.