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Schild, John, Ph.D.
Purdue School of Engineering and Techonology, IUPUI
Biomedical Engineering
http://www.engr.iupui.edu/bme/jschild.shtml
More than 60 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular
disease, the most prevalent being high blood pressure, myocardial
infarction and cardiac pain (The American Heart Association, 2003).
The clinical manifestations of these diseases are well described.
Clinical interventions often involve ion channel antagonists or
sub cellular modulators of ion channel properties to alleviate symptoms
and restore function. However, little is known concerning the encoding
and processing of the altered sensory afferent information arising
from these disease states and the impact this may have upon the
autonomic reflexes that are central to maintaining cardiovascular
homeostasis. In our laboratory, we use patch clamp electrophysiology
to study the functional role of ion channel dynamics upon the discharge
characteristics of cardiac sensory neurons. In the computer, we
use biologically realistic mathematical models of cardiac sensory
neurons and techniques of dynamical systems analysis to provide
a conceptual framework with which to interpret experimental results
as well as a way of better directing and organizing future studies.
Recent results from our lab have demonstrated how tetrodotoxin-resistant
Na+ ion channels, a special class of ion channels closely associated
with pain sensation, can exert considerable influence over the responsiveness
of a particular class of cardiac sensory neurons. We anticipate
that these results may lead to more efficient development and effective
application of pharmacological interventions for the management
of cardiac pain.
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Department of Biology