For Faculty:
Resources for Faculty

Faculty Membership Policy

Committees

About Faculty:
Alphabetic Faculty List

Faculty Directory

Research Interests

Search Neuroscience

Christopher N. Honda, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Neuroscience E-mail: cnhonda@umn.edu

Research Interests:

The skin and deep tissues comprise a vital interface between our bodies and our surroundings. The senses of touch and pain are especially critical in interactions with our environment. Our research interests are centered on functional and structural mechanisms underlying these senses, and there is a particular emphasis in our laboratory on neuronal mechanisms contributing to the sensory experience of pain.

We use a combination of anatomical, immunohistochemical, and electrophysiological techniques to establish basic relationships between neuronal structure, cytochemistry and function. We are applying these techniques to the study of individual sensory neurons of the peripheral nervous system. Currently, our main research direction is the functional regulation of peripheral opioid receptors, and how these receptors contribute to peripheral analgesic systems.

Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

Wenk HN, Brederson JD, Honda CN. Morphine directly inhibits nociceptors in inflamed skin. J Neurophysiol. 2006 Apr;95(4):2083-97.

Simone DA, Zhang X, Li J, Zhang JM, Honda CN, LaMotte RH, Giesler GJ Jr. Comparison of responses of primate spinothalamic tract neurons to pruritic and algogenic stimuli. J Neurophysiol. 2004 Jan;91(1):213-22.

Truong H, McGinnis L, Dindo L, Honda CN, Giesler GJ Jr.   Identification of dorsal root ganglion neurons that innervate the common bile duct of rats. Exp Brain Res. 2004 Apr;155(4):477-84.

Wenk HN, Nannenga MN, Honda CN. Effect of morphine sulphate eye drops on hyperalgesia in the rat cornea. Pain. 2003 Oct;105(3):455-65.

Wenk HN, Honda CN. Silver nitrate cauterization: characterization of a new model of corneal inflammation and hyperalgesia in rat. Pain. 2003 Oct;105(3):393-401.

Current Graduate Students:

Catherine Satterfield (Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Cicely Schramm (Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Former Graduate Students:

Heather Wenk (Ph.D. 2002, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).