Dr. Janean Holden’s research of brain pathways has the potential to change the way pain is treated.
February, 2013
“Putting the pieces of the puzzle together is exciting,” says Professor Janean Holden, Ph.D., RN, FAAN. “They don’t always fit, but when they do, it’s great. To know that you and your team discovered something new about the way the brain works, that’s pretty encouraging.”
For Dr. Holden, the “pieces” are parts of the brain, their pathways, and the connections to 
pain. Her primary focus is on the hypothalamus, a small section of the brain responsible for many functions of the nervous system. One of these functions is to activate neurons that inhibit pain stimuli as they come into the spinal cord.
“Think of when you cut your finger,” says Dr. Holden. “It hurts when the cut happens. Then there’s a numbness, a moment without pain, followed by pain again. We have a complex system of neurons in the brain that turn off pain in the spinal cord. If the pain stimulus doesn’t get to the brain, it isn’t perceived as painful. But this brain inhibition doesn’t last long, so we need to figure out more about how it works and how to use it to relieve pain for patients.”
Students are a welcome part of Dr. Holden’s research. “I love teaching, I love students,” she says. “Our students are really sharp. They bring a wonderful energy to the lab.”
Dr. Holden and her students are currently exploring differences in acute and neuropathic pain in male and female rats. Acute pain is generally considered short-termed. The pain you feel when touching a hot stove is an example of acute pain. Neuropathic pain is more complex. “You have some type of injury somewhere; sometimes you don’t even know it, as in diabetes,” Dr. Holden explained. Neuropathic pain in the hands and feet is often the presenting symptom of Type II diabetes.
Dr. Holden’s research has shown significant results, including differences in the way male and female rats react to hypothalamic-induced analgesia in neuropathic pain, with female rats showing a greater analgesic response than males. “Finding these results in animals can then direct clinical studies that use brain stimulation to control pain, which researchers are doing.”
Dr. Holden was recently awarded a $1.9-million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research to continue her research. While the brain has long been an area of fascination for researchers, the hypothalamus and the pathways are a new and specialized focus for only a handful of scientists. Dr. Holden says that kind of work can be both isolating and rewarding. “This kind of research allows us to get at the physiological mechanisms, which I think is a very exciting type of discovery.”
Dr. Holden hopes her findings will one day be used to help patients dealing with chronic pain from ailments like cancer, diabetes, and neuropathy.
