# Novel target identification for treatment of chronic overlapping pain using multimodal brain imaging

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · 2022 · $300,321

## Abstract

Summary
Chronic overlapping pain conditions (COPCs) are idiopathic pain conditions that have minimal identifiable
origins in organic disease and represent a highly significant pain management challenge for physician and
patient. They occur in tens of millions of Americans with annual costs exceeding $100 billion. Epidemiological
data indicate many of these conditions overlap in presentation in the same patient, with odds of presenting 2 or
more conditions exceeding 50%. Often spatially separate areas of the body are affected (e.g.,
temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)), which strongly suggests the
involvement of central nervous system mechanisms. Additionally, stress triggers or exacerbates many of these
conditions, which occur more frequently or exclusively in women. The convergence of pain from different
peripheral tissues and perceived stress most likely occurs in the brain. We have developed an animal model of
comorbid pain conditions that involves masseter muscle inflammation plus stress to induce chronic visceral
hypersensitivity modeling the pain in patients with TMD and IBS. The purpose of this supplemental project is to
refine this comorbid pain model for further use in our novel therapeutic target discovery project. We propose a
more natural orofacial condition, malocclusion producing a unilateral anterior crossbite, which has been
reported to evoke temporomandibular joint pain. This will be combined with less invasive methods to measure
visceral hypersensitivity, using referred pain rather than the visceromotor response, eliminating the need for
surgery to implant electrodes and single housing to protect electrode leads from cagemates. These conditions
are proposed to refine the model more closely approximating conditions that might contribute to chronic
overlapping pain in order to gain a mechanistic understanding and aid discovery of novel therapeutic targets.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10612148
- **Project number:** 3R01DE029074-01A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE
- **Principal Investigator:** Ohannes Kevork Melemedjian
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $300,321
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10612148

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10612148, Novel target identification for treatment of chronic overlapping pain using multimodal brain imaging (3R01DE029074-01A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10612148. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*