University of Stirling

Stirling

FK9 4LA
Scotland

UK

Email: 

Research in neuroscience. Course co-ordinator and lecturer in statistical methods.

Neuroscience research lab scheme of work (risk assessment) is given here.

Somatosensory neurophysiology and pharmacology

1) Touch receptors in the skin - particularly slowly adapting Type I units associated with Merkel nerve endings in the basal layer of the epidermis.

2) Neural processing in the cerebral cortex - in particular somatosensory information for touch, temperature and pain.

Current work is focussed on the role of metabotropic glutamate receptors in both skin and cortex. In vitro studies (skin touch receptors) use extracellular recording with bath application of drugs. In vivo studies (cortex) use extracellular and intracellular recording with microiontophoresis to study nociceptive responses in primary somatosensory cortex.

See http://forth.stir.ac.uk/~pmbc1/ for more details.

Also a more general interest in the psychology of the touch and tickle.

Listen to Edi Stark's BBC Scotland programme on the sense of touch.

  Layer 5 pyramidal cell recorded in somatosensory cortex

Co-ordinator for PSY914 - Psychological Methods
Contributor to PSY9A4 - Brain and Behaviour - Clinical Perspectives
Elective co-ordinator

2007: Physiological Society, £190, travel grant for Life Sciences 2007 meeting at Glasgow.

2007: William Ramsay Henderson Trust £956, “The contribution of metabotropic glutamate receptors to nociceptive processing in rat primary somatosensory cortex”

2006: Nuffield Foundation £1,285 for Undergraduate Bursary (Rosemary Noyce), “The involvement of thermoTRP channels in the thermal sensitivity of slowly adapting type I receptors of the skin”.

2004: Bursary £640 from ESRC for 2 day workshop on Qualitative Statistical Modelling 16 – 17 December.

2003: BBC £857 commissioned to build a tactile stimulator, and consultant for one programme in a series on the Human Senses.

2002: Nuffield Foundation £1,275 for Undergraduate Bursary (Filip Aggestam), “A rodent’s view of the world: real object recognition using vibrissae.”

2001-2003: Wellcome Trust research grant of £85,914 titled: “An investigation of chemical transmission in the Merkel cell-neurite complex”.

Full Papers & Book Chapters

Cahusac, P.M.B. (2009) Effects of transient receptor potential (TRP) channel agonists and antagonists on slowly adapting type II mechanoreceptors in the rat sinus hair follicle, Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System, 14:300-309. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B. (2009) Statistical methodology and reporting – the case for confidence intervals, Physiology News, 74:33-36. [PDF of whole issue]

Cahusac, P.M.B. & Mavulati, S.C. (2009) Non-competitive mGlu1 receptor antagonists block activity of slowly adapting type I mechanoreceptor units in the rat sinus hair follicle, Neuroscience, 163:933-941. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B. (2008) Glutamate signalling in the skin, In: Amino Acid Receptor Research, Paley, E. F. and Warfield, T. E., Nova Science Publishers. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B. & Noyce, R. (2007) A pharmacological study of slowly adapting mechanoreceptors responsive to cold thermal stimulation, Neuroscience, 148:489-500. [PDF]

Dolan, S. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (2007) Enhanced short-latency responses in the ventral posterior medial (VPM) thalamic nucleus following whisker trimming in the adult rat, Physiology & Behavior, 92:500-506. [PDF]

Aggestam, F. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (2007) Behavioural lateralization of tactile performance in the rat, Physiology & Behavior, 91:335-339. [PDF]

Cahusac, P. M. B. & Wan, H. (2007) Group II metabotropic glutamate receptors reduce excitatory but not inhibitory neurotransmission in rat barrel cortex in vivo, Neuroscience, 146:202-212. [PDF]

Braid, L. & Cahusac, P. M. B. (2006) Decreased sensitivity to self-inflicted pain, Pain, 124:134-139. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B. & Senok, S.S. (2006) Metabotropic glutamate receptor antagonists selectively enhance responses of slowly adapting Type I mechanoreceptors, Synapse, 59:235-242. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B., Senok, S.S., Hitchcock, I., Genever, P. & Baumann, K.I. (2005) Are unconventional NMDA receptors involved in slowly adapting type I mechanoreceptor responses?, Neuroscience, 133:763-773. [PDF]

Hitchcock, I., Genever, P. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (2004) Essential components for a glutamatergic synapse between Merkel cell and nerve terminal, Neuroscience Letters, 362:196-199. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B. (2003) Are glutamate receptors involved in transmission at the Merkel cell-neurite junction? In: The Merkel cell – structure – development – function – and Merkel cell carcinoma, Klaus I. Baumann, Zdenek Halata and Ingrid Moll (eds), Springer-Verlag.

Senok, S.S., Genever, P.G., Cahusac, P.M.B. & Baumann, K.I.(2003) Glutamate receptor-like immunoreactivity in rat vibrissal Merkel cells, In: The Merkel cell – structure – development – function – and Merkel cell carcinoma, Klaus I. Baumann, Zdenek Halata and Ingrid Moll (eds), Springer-Verlag. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B. (2002) The Perception of Touch, In: Signals and Perception: the Fundamentals of Human Sensation, edited by D. Roberts,  Palgrave, The Open University, pp245-254.

Fagan, B.M. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (2001) Evidence for glutamate receptor mediated transmission at mechanoreceptors in the skin, NeuroReport, 12: 341-347. [PDF of galley proof]

Smith, J.L. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (2001) Right-sided asymmetry in sensitivity to tickle, Laterality, 6 (3): 233-238. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B., Castro, M.G., Robertson, L. & Lowenstein, P.R. (1998) Electrophysiological evidence against a neurotransmitter role of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) in primary somatosensory cortex, Brain Research, 793: 73-78. [PDF]

Dolan, S. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (1996) Differential effect of whisker trimming on excitatory and inhibitory transmission in the primary somatosensory cortex of the adult rat in vivo, Neuroscience, 70: 79-92. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B. (1995)  Synaptic plasticity induced in single neurones of the primary somatosensory cortex in vivo, Exp. Brain Res., 107: 241-253. [PDF front page]

Cahusac, P.M.B., Morris, R. & Hill, R.G. (1995) A pharmacological study of the modulation of neuronal and behavioural nociceptive responses in the rat trigeminal region, Brain Research, 700: 70-82. [PDF]

Wan, H. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (1995) The effects of L-AP4 and O-phospho-l-serine on inhibition in primary somatosensory cortex of the adult rat in vivo, Neuropharmacology, 34: 1053-1062. [PDF]

Cahusac, P.M.B. (1994) Cortical layer-specific effects of the metabotropic glutamate receptor agonist 1S,3R-ACPD in rat primary somatosensory cortex in vivo, Europ. J. Neurosci, 6, 1505-1511.

Recent Abstracts

Cahusac, P. & Sharma, I. (2008) A comparison of the effects of capsazepine on type I and type II slowly adapting mechanoreceptors in the rat sinus hair follicle, Proc Physiol Soc 11, PC115.

Cahusac, P.M.B. (2007) Diverse processing roles for metabotropic glutamate receptors - evidence from in vivo experiments, Barrels XX, San Diego, 1 - 2 November 2007. [on-line abstract]

Senok, S.S. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (2007) Potassium channels modulate the mechanical sensitivity of cutaneous type I slowly adapting mechanoreceptors, Soc. Neurosci. Abstr., 862.5. [on-line abstract]

Cahusac, P.M. (2007) A possible role for transient receptor potential (TRP) channels in mechanically evoked responses from slowly adapting type II mechanoreceptors, Proc Life Sciences, PC232. [PDF]   [PowerPoint Poster]

Cahusac, P.M. & Noyce, R. (2007) A pharmacological study of slowly adapting mechanoreceptors responsive to cold stimulation, Proc Life Sciences, PC225. [PDF]   [PowerPoint Poster]

Cahusac, P.M.B. (2006) Group II mGlu receptor agonist 2R,4R-APDC causes presynaptic depression of excitatory transmission in rat barrel cortex, Proc Physiol Soc 3, C33.

Cahusac, P.M.B. (2005) Presynaptic depression by metabotropic glutamate receptor agonists in rat somatosensory cortex as assessed by intracellular recordings in vivo, J. Physiol., 567P: PC71. 

Cahusac, P.M.B. & Senok, S.S. (2005) Blockade of metabotropic glutamate receptors enhances rat slowly adapting type I responses in vitro, J. Physiol., 567P: C41.
 
Cahusac, P.M.B. & Senok, S.S. (2004) The effects of ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists on cutaneous slowly adapting type I responses, J. Physiol., 555P: C155.

Senok, S.S., Genever, P., Cahusac, P.M.B. (2003) Is MK-801 a specific NMDA receptor antagonist? FEPS 2003, Abstract, June 2003. [PDF]

Aggestam, F. & Cahusac, P. (2003) The rat’s tactile discriminative abilities, British Neuroscience Association, 17: 35.05. [PowerPoint Poster]

Senok, S.S., Cahusac, P.M. & Baumann,  K.I. (2001) Spontaneous firing in vibrissal type II slowly adapting mechanoreceptors depends on potassium channel activity, Soc. Neurosci. Abstr., 27, 130.1 [PDF]

Senok, S.S., Baumann, K.I. & Cahusac, P.M.B. (2001) MK-801 depression of vibrissal slowly adapting mechanoreceptor responses, J. Physiol., 536P: S196.

    Crystallized glutamic acid

   

 

 

 

 

Other interests