Xianghong Arakaki

Xianghong Arakaki received her M.D. from the Medical College of Tongji University (Former Shanghai TieDao Medical College) in 1998 and her M.S. in Neurobiology from the Medical Center of Fudan University (Former Shanghai Medical University) in 2001 in Shanghai, China. Xianghong got her PhD in Neuroscience from the Dept. of Anatomy & Neurobiology of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN in 2007. After graduation, her research interests in clinical diseases led her to join the HMRI molecular neurology department with Dr. Harrington.

At HMRI since September 2007, Xianghong has developed great interest in migraine research. She improved her skills in electrophysiology and molecular neurology in migraine research and in collaboration with her colleagues. Xianghong uses her knowledge in neuroscience and skills in cellular neurobiology and electrophysiology to explore pathological mechanisms of migraine. Specifically, she has cultured primary rat hippocampal pyramidal cells and carried out patch clamp studies to provide supportive evidence for Dr. Harrington’s sodium theory of migraine. NEURON simulation together with Dr. Harrington’s MRI sodium imaging gave further proof for sodium-related neuronal hyper-excitability in migraine. Xianghong is now doing further immunohistochemical and electrophysiological studies to investigate the underlying mechanisms that result in elevated sodium and neuronal excitability in migraine. The goal of her research would be to investigate a sodium-related pathological mechanism and to suggest more effective treatment for migraine.