Directory of Experts
Details for Professor Max Headley
| Personal details | |
| Name | Professor Max Headley |
| Job title | Emeritus Professor of Physiology |
| Department | School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience University of Bristol |
| Contact details | This expert can be contacted via the University of Bristol Public Relations
Office. To help us deal with your request, please mention the Directory of Experts when contacting the Public Relations Office. work+44 (0)117 331 8092 email: public-relations@bristol.ac.uk |
| Qualifications | B.V.Rs, B.S.c, Ph.d (Bristol), M.R.C.V.S |
| Professional details | |
| Keywords | sensitization enhanced states of pain Neurotransmitters Receptors spinal cord central nervous system spinal sensitization novel analgesic agents |
| Areas of expertise | Current research covers both the general physiological processes of sensitization that may underlie enhanced states of pain, and more specifically the neurotransmitters and their receptors that are involved in these processes. The main emphasis is on the processes that occur in the spinal cord, the first relay and an important site for gating sensory information arriving in the central nervous system. We use mainly electrophysiological and behavioural techniques in vivo and have a particular interest in excitatory amino acid receptors. Of these, NMDA receptors are well known to mediate sensitization, but the complexity of this receptor site indicates that novel therapeutic targets with fewer side effects may yet be developed, acting either centrally or in the periphery. We also have interests in amines, opioids, neuropeptides and other mediators that may be involved in spinal sensitization and that may therefore be targets for the developments of novel analgesic agents. |