Ru-Rong Ji

Professor in Anesthesiology

Distinguished Distinguished Professor of Anesthesiology, in the School of Medicine

Professor in Neurobiology

Professor in Cell Biology

Email address: ru-rong.ji@duke.edu

Chronic pain is a major health problem in the US, affecting 100 million Americans. The long-term goal of the lab is to identify molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie the genesis of chronic pain and, furthermore, to develop novel pain therapeutics that can target these mechanisms. We are interested in the following questions. (1) How do neuroinflammation and activation of glial cells (microglia and astrocytes) regulate pain and spinal cord synaptic plasticity via neuro-glial and neuro-immune interactions? (2) How do secreted miRNAs regulate neuronal signaling and synaptic transmission and pain as novel neuromodulators and pain mediators? (3) How do pro-resolution lipid mediators such as resolvins and protectin control pain via GPCR and arrestin signaling? (4) Do pain and itch share similar mechanisms? (5) How does Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling in primary sensory neurons regulate pain and itch? (6) How can bone marrow stem cells produce long-term pain relief via secreting anti-inflammatory and trophic factors? We employ a multidisciplinary approach that covers in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo electrophysiology, neuronal and glial cell biology, transgenic mice, and behaviors.

Education and Training

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China), Ph.D. 1990

Associated Faculty Labs

Ji Lab

Selected Grants and Awards

Department Affiliation

Department of Anesthesiology

Publications

Xu, Z. Z., and R. R. Ji. “Protection of neuropathic pain by pro-resolution lipid mediators.” In Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, 9:60–61. SPRINGER, 2014.

Berta, Temugin, Chul-Kyu Park, Zhen-Zhong Xu, Ruo-Gang Xie, Tong Liu, Ning Lü, Yen-Chin Liu, and Ru-Rong Ji. “Extracellular caspase-6 drives murine inflammatory pain via microglial TNF-α secretion.” J Clin Invest 124, no. 3 (March 2014): 1173–86. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI72230.

Lee, J. -. H., C. -. K. Park, G. Chen, Q. Han, R. -. G. Xie, T. Liu, R. -. R. Ji, and S. -. Y. Lee. “A Monoclonal Antibody that Targets a NaV1.7 Channel Voltage Sensor for Pain and Itch Relief.” Cell, 2014.

Ji, Ru-Rong, Temugin Berta, and Maiken Nedergaard. “Glia and pain: is chronic pain a gliopathy?” Pain 154 Suppl 1 (December 2013): S10–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2013.06.022.

Liu, Tong, and Ru-Rong Ji. “New insights into the mechanisms of itch: are pain and itch controlled by distinct mechanisms?” Pflugers Arch 465, no. 12 (December 2013): 1671–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-013-1284-2.

Zhang, Zhi-Jun, De-Li Cao, Xin Zhang, Ru-Rong Ji, and Yong-Jing Gao. “Chemokine contribution to neuropathic pain: respective induction of CXCL1 and CXCR2 in spinal cord astrocytes and neurons.” Pain 154, no. 10 (October 2013): 2185–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2013.07.002.

Berta, T., Y. -. C. Liu, Z. -. Z. Xu, and R. -. R. Ji. “Tissue plasminogen activator contributes to morphine tolerance and induces mechanical allodynia via astrocytic IL-1β and ERK signaling in the spinal cord of mice.” Neuroscience 247 (September 5, 2013): 376–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.05.018.

Xu, Zhen-Zhong, Xing-Jun Liu, Temugin Berta, Chul-Kyu Park, Ning Lü, Charles N. Serhan, and Ru-Rong Ji. “Neuroprotectin/protectin D1 protects against neuropathic pain in mice after nerve trauma.” Ann Neurol 74, no. 3 (September 2013): 490–95. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.23928.

Lu, Yan, Hailong Dong, Yandong Gao, Yuanyuan Gong, Yingna Ren, Nan Gu, Shudi Zhou, et al. “A feed-forward spinal cord glycinergic neural circuit gates mechanical allodynia.” J Clin Invest 123, no. 9 (September 2013): 4050–62. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI70026.

Pagadala, Promila, Chul-Kyu Park, Sangsu Bang, Zheng-Zhong Xu, Rou-Gang Xie, Tong Liu, Bao-Xia Han, W Daniel Tracey, Fan Wang, and Ru-Rong Ji. “Loss of NR1 subunit of NMDARs in primary sensory neurons leads to hyperexcitability and pain hypersensitivity: involvement of Ca(2+)-activated small conductance potassium channels.” J Neurosci 33, no. 33 (August 14, 2013): 13425–30. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0454-13.2013.