Researchers Discover an "Off Switch" For Pain In the Brain

concertina226 writes Scientists working together from several international universities have discovered that it is possible to block a pathway in the brain of animals suffering from neuropathic pain, which could have a huge impact on improving pain relief in humans. So far, the most successful ways to treat chronic pain from a pharmacological point of view are to create drugs that that interact or interfere with various channels in the brain to decrease pain, including adrenergic, opioid and calcium receptors. However, there is another way – a chemical stimulator called adenosine that binds to brain receptors to trigger a biological response. Adenosine has shown potential for killing pain in humans, but so far, no one has managed to harness this pain pathway successfully without causing a myriad of side effects. Led by Dr Daniela Salvemini of SLU, the researchers discovered that by activating the A3 adenosine receptor in the rodents' brains and spinal cords, the receptor was able to prevent or reverse pain from nerve damage (the cause of chronic pain).

Comments

All or nothing

[TWX]

I'm curious if this'll be an all-or-nothing thing, or if there are degrees of gradation. Pain itself serves good in that it prevents one from doing things that cause it, so we don't injure ourselves.

Also makes me wonder if pain caused by emotion or stress would be affected, and to what degree. It's been said that emotional pain is a physical response, the body literally making itself ill or hurt, so I wonder.

Re:All or nothing

[ColdWetDog]

Doubtful it will be a 'switch' like one thinks about in electronics or logic. It is a complex pathway so there will be plenty of other regulatory and counter regulatory effects. Of interest, is that there are a number of drugs already in trials that work on similar pathways, so it's a bit doubtful that these researchers have found a magic bullet type of thing.

And even if they can shut it off completely in animal studies, it is a long road to developing a useful clinical treatment.

Don't short opium growers just yet.

Re:All or nothing

[myid]

I'm curious if this'll be an all-or-nothing thing, or if there are degrees of gradation. Pain itself serves good in that it prevents one from doing things that cause it, so we don't injure ourselves.

The article at http://brain.oxfordjournals.or... has a short section titled "MRS5698 does not alter normal nociception". That section says, "MRS5698 tested at the highest effective dose had no effect in tests that measure the acute thermal nociceptive component of physiological pain: tail flick and hot-plate (Fig. 2H and I)."

Wikipedia says,

Nociception (also nocioception or nociperception) is the encoding and processing of harmful stimuli in the nervous system,[1] and, therefore, the ability of a body to sense potential harm.

Any doctors here - does that mean pain from danger still is felt, just not chronic pain from damaged nerves?

Re:All or nothing

[El Puerco Loco]

It means what it says it means, that it selectively alleviates neuropathic pain, not all causes of pain. Neuropathic pain originates form damaged nerves, is usually experienced as persistent burning, tingling, pins and needles sensation and doesn't respond well to opiates or nsaids.

Re:All or nothing

[Neil Boekend]

And, very importantly, is now untreatable. "Sorry, just suck it up" isn't something a doctor likes to say to someone in real pain. It's not always "tingling" or pins and needles.

That it is selective is a great pro. You don't want someone with strong phantom pain in their severed hand to loose the other hand due to an infection that wasn't noticed because the painkillers stopped the important signal with the phantom one.
Missing one hand is already problem. Missing two is an unimaginable problem (at least, I can't imagine it).

Re:Introduction already $$$

[RingDev]

Here's the thing, there are some forms of nerve damage that we currently don't have a cure for, there are far more that we don't even understand well enough to have an idea for a cure, and there are some that are so poorly understood, even significant swaths of the medical community doubt that they are real and accuse patients of being drug seekers.

For example: Fibromyalgia. It isn't a disease in it's own right, it is a classification of a set of symptoms that have not been able to be attached to a source. There are lots of theories and progress is being made in the field. But when the causes could be genetic, dietary, environmental, psychological, or even sleep related, any step forward could be helpful for some subset of FM sufferers, but leave the rest without aid.

If this approach can be made to work, it would mean that virtually all of the FM sufferers in the world could lead a normal life, while at the same time research continues on the underlying causes of their conditions.

When you wake up every day and have to see your spouse, your child, or your friends in agony because for no meaningful reason their brain decides that they should feel like every joint is coated with sandpaper, that every muscle is strained and torn, that every tendon is inflamed, then any option, even one that profits some greedy ass in a suit, becomes a miracle.

-Rick