Scientists Find Brain Center That 'Profoundly' Shuts Down Pain (sciencedaily.com) 66
A research team from Duke University has found a small area of the brain in mice that can profoundly shut down pain. "It's located in an area where few people would have thought to look for an anti-pain center, the amygdala, which is often considered the home of negative emotions and responses, like the fight or flight response and general anxiety," reports ScienceDaily. From the report: The researchers found that general anesthesia also activates a specific subset of inhibitory neurons in the central amygdala, which they have called the CeAga neurons (CeA stands for central amygdala; ga indicates activation by general anesthesia). Mice have a relatively larger central amygdala than humans, but [senior author Fan Wang, the Morris N. Broad Distinguished Professor of neurobiology in the School of Medicine] said she had no reason to think we have a different system for controlling pain. Using technologies that Wang's lab has pioneered to track the paths of activated neurons in mice, the team found the CeAga was connected to many different areas of the brain, "which was a surprise," Wang said.
By giving mice a mild pain stimulus, the researchers could map all of the pain-activated brain regions. They discovered that at least 16 brain centers known to process the sensory or emotional aspects of pain were receiving inhibitory input from the CeAga. Using a technology called optogenetics, which uses light to activate a small population of cells in the brain, the researchers found they could turn off the self-caring behaviors a mouse exhibits when it feels uncomfortable by activating the CeAga neurons. Paw-licking or face-wiping behaviors were "completely abolished" the moment the light was switched on to activate the anti-pain center.
When the scientists dampened the activity of these CeAga neurons, the mice responded as if a temporary insult had become intense or painful again. They also found that low-dose ketamine, an anesthetic drug that allows sensation but blocks pain, activated the CeAga center and wouldn't work without it. Now the researchers are going to look for drugs that can activate only these cells to suppress pain as potential future pain killers, Wang said. The study has been published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
By giving mice a mild pain stimulus, the researchers could map all of the pain-activated brain regions. They discovered that at least 16 brain centers known to process the sensory or emotional aspects of pain were receiving inhibitory input from the CeAga. Using a technology called optogenetics, which uses light to activate a small population of cells in the brain, the researchers found they could turn off the self-caring behaviors a mouse exhibits when it feels uncomfortable by activating the CeAga neurons. Paw-licking or face-wiping behaviors were "completely abolished" the moment the light was switched on to activate the anti-pain center.
When the scientists dampened the activity of these CeAga neurons, the mice responded as if a temporary insult had become intense or painful again. They also found that low-dose ketamine, an anesthetic drug that allows sensation but blocks pain, activated the CeAga center and wouldn't work without it. Now the researchers are going to look for drugs that can activate only these cells to suppress pain as potential future pain killers, Wang said. The study has been published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
I predict (Score:2)
The creation of the world's most addictive class of drugs.
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More likely "the home of negative emotions and responses, like the fight or flight response and general anxiety", yeah, let's fuck with that region of the brain what could go wrong. Keep in mind a berserk, feels no pain and can fight and kill until they die, so lets pour drugs into that region and see what happens, I'll bet, it will be bad, keep in mind berserks also lose all memory during that time, associated with no sensation of pain, a true fight to the death response, obviously also tied to that region
Re:I predict (Score:5, Insightful)
let's fuck with that region of the brain what could go wrong.
For people suffering from intense chronic pain, there isn't much that can go wrong. Almost any effect will be an improvement.
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It is not just about those people but their potential victims. Going berserk is of no benefit to anyone in the modern region. Clearing a part of the brain is responsible for that, the complete shutting down of pain to allow continued physical action. They should be very cautious in targeting that area specifically to protect their test subjects and anyone they interact with. Going berserk is no fun, a highly effective conflict tactic but for the individual something that was called the little death, because
Re:I predict (Score:5, Funny)
"[...] something that was called the little death [...]"
It doesn't surprise me that a slashdot poster messes up what la petite mort is.
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That is funny, from what I have read the berserkers were eating a fair share of hallucinogenic mushrooms and they regularly used stuff likes hensbane.
I would not be surprised if they didn't feel a little kippered after that lol
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When a person goes berserk, they lose conscious motivation and act in upon a core survival instinct, both conscious and unconscious, more of a Nordic tilt than a French tilt (different older spelling too baeserk). It doesn't surprise me that a slashdot poster messes gets the idea into their head, that their is only one interpretation of anything, their own, or their nations no other society or individual is entitled to their own interpretation, religious wars start based exactly upon exactly that. https://w [psychologytoday.com]
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Dude, "the little death" is a French term for orgasm, so I have no clue what you are wittering on about.
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Agreed (Score:2)
That's exactly what I was thinking.
If it's mixed in with negative emotions, shutting down (or inhibiting) that region is likely to at least cause severe psychologic dependence, if not physical addiction, pretty quickly.
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Not feeling pain while exhibiting aggression and territorial behavior is very common in our society
It is pretty obvious they are addicted to that behavior, so do you want to treat them like addicts now?
fyi, we don't do a very good job of treating addicts
Re: Agreed (Score:2)
Not feeling pain while exhibiting aggression and territorial behavior is very common in our society
Only in people on PCP. I wouldn't call that "very common" unless you're living in the ghetto.
fyi, we don't do a very good job of treating addicts
As compared to what?
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Addicted to tghe behaviour ot the other effects from it? I would hazared that they find something else attractive, and the lack of pain and control is a side effect.
I imagine even the stupidest druggie would rather not come round from their haze to find themselves in hospital with gunshot wounds.
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You realize that when someone points to part of the brain and says "this does this" that's a very big generalization right?
Targetting a particular neural circuit is less likely to have undesireable side effects than, for example, eating plant-manufactured chemical weapons that happen to have an effect on the same area.
Re: I predict (Score:3)
There's a good chance they'll be much safer than opioids. Opioids are dangerous because they give you a sense of euphoria. If you can get rid of pain without providing a "good" feeling, then it could be a much less addictive alternative for port-surgical or chronic pain prescriptions.
Pay attention to your body. (Score:3)
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I assume you've never suffered from phantom limb pain?
'yes I DEFINITELY need a painful reminder I don't have an arm anymore'
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For transient pain, yes. It's probably telling you something important.
Then there's chronic pain. It may be that there's nothing you can do about the damage and it won't heal on it's own, or the pain may be the malfunction. Either way, in those cases you'll live better if you can turn the pain off.
wow... (Score:2)
They finally figured out how Ketamine works. No worries, it isn't like we've been using it regularly on people for 50 years or anything crazy like that.
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There are many medicaments used regularily where nobody knows how they work.
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Re: wow... (Score:1)
If we only used medication that we know the exact mechanism of, pharmacies could make do with a single shelf.
That would be an improvement. They could get rid of the five shelves of homeopathic bullshit which we know doesn't work.
LOL wait, WHAT?! (Score:1)
They were surprised that pain is a negative emotion?! What the hell? Who writes this stuff?
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It's located in an area where few people would have thought to look for an anti-pain center.... the home of negative emotions and responses
The pain center is close to the anti-pain center. Good to know.
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But that's still not accurate.
People with amygdala damage have increased negative emotions and increased activity in their damaged amygdala. And when people are experiencing strong negative emotions, they have increased activity in their amygdala. But when they have strong positive emotions they also have increased activity in their amygdala. The reason that negative emotions have a stronger research association is that damage tends to cause problems, not benefits, and when there is damage to an area of the
Advertising disclaimer (Score:1)
"Possible side effects include: Continuing to work, which may be fatal."
CIP [wikipedia.org]
No kidding... (Score:2)
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Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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It's a tricky one because pain serves a purpose, it tells you when something is wrong that you should probably act on like an injury or strain. You want to get rid of chronic pain but also still want other kinds of pain so you don't damage your body without realizing it.
I use over the counter pain medication for chronic issues and sometimes get this, not noticing that I've done something I should really have stopped doing when it started to hurt.
Maybe the advantage here is that you can turn it on and off. T
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It's even trickier because people have different pain thresholds. I apparently have a high threshold for pain - I feel it, but it doesn't affect me as much.
It's useful at times (to avoid the nastiness of the dentist freezing your mouth at times), but it has proven problematic.
Last year I went to the hospital and got a chest X-ray. Doctors determined that I had recently cracked some ribs (the X-Ray was for a different issue and the cracked ribs were incidental) and asked me about it. Of course, I plead ignor
... area of the brain in mice ... (Score:2)
area of the brain in mice that can profoundly shut down pain.
Scientist to mouse: Don't move or jerk or even wince, or I'll stick you with that big needle again.
Mouse: Yes, Sir! May I please have another one, Sir!
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I think you're on to something here - someone should inform these world class neurological experts about operant conditioning, confounding effects and negative reinforcement, topics they surely overlooked despite being covered in every intro to psychology textbook on the planet.
Re: ... area of the brain in mice ... (Score:2)
He's being stupid, but so are you. The medical journals are chock full of basic errors which no trained expert should be making, yet they repeatedly do. P-hacking, for instance, is a massive problem in science as a whole.
You're making a true "argument from authority" fallacy.l
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P-hacking isn't an error. It's fraud. The people who do it are very well aware that it's wrong.
People also make legitimate stupid mistakes all the time.
Re: ... area of the brain in mice ... (Score:2)
That's incredibly uncharitable, on top of being blatantly wrong. Some people absolutely do engage in P hacking on purpose, knowing full well that it's wrong. Others do it incidentally, often with the best of intentions, simply because they didn't pay attention in their statistics class.
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No. If you're a trained scientist you know, or *should* know that it's wrong. And I guarantee you, most of them know, but do it anyway. Excuses I've been given when asked to do it on someone else's behalf: "it's not really *that* wrong"; "everybody does it"; "that value is too big, we need a lower one for the grant to get approved"; "just try this and see if it works."
That's why pharma trials are legally required to be preregistered, with a detailed description of their analysis.
I'm sure (Score:2)
Can it numb the pain of my wife? (Score:2)
Before you ask, it's a joke. I'm not married (anymore).
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It depends on how much of the drug your friend gives her.
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Fine. So next time you're in pain just sit back and put up with it , don't take any pain killers. After all, thats just ignoring the problem, even if you can't fix the cause, right?
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OTOH, if you do find the reason, can't do anything about it, and it's already done all the damage it's going to do, silencing the alarm is the right thing.
Shut down pain? (Score:2)
Pain isn't real, its created by the brain. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to talk about preventing the brain generating pain in the first place?
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That would be what this story is about.
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That's pretty much what TFA is about...
Err, what? (Score:3)
... It's located in an area where few people would have thought to look for an anti-pain center, the amygdala, which is often considered the home of negative emotions and responses, like the fight or flight response and general anxiety, ...
The amygdala is a part of the brain, which goes all the way back to the dinosaurs. We inherited our fight-or-flight impulse from them, and it's also the part of our brain which triggers adrenaline (among other things known for increasing our pain threshold). I'm no neuroscientist, but isn't this one of the likeliest regions to look for this?
I guess this must be an insider joke when they say few people would have thought to look there... only a few people are neuroscientists!
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Yeah, I thought that was strange myself. Maybe it's one of those seemingly simple "why didn't *I* think of that?" ideas.
Opiates Shut Down Pain (Score:3)
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Opiates shut down pain, but we don't seem to care if people feel pain in this point in our history.
This is nonsense. First off, criminals and the pharma industry do care very much. So it isn't a lack of care.
It's seems we've developed false expectations, have become lazy, gullible, perhaps too complacent and allow ourselves too much fear, and as a consequence do we more often fail to manage pain ourselves (clinical cases notwithstanding of course).
I've noticed it on myself not too long ago when I had a elbow surgery... I know about addiction and pain and so I deliberately chose local anaesthetics. I coul
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... general aesthetics ... local aesthetics ...
And this is what happens when one relies too much on spelling correction. It's of course anaesthetics.
Itches too? (Score:2)
I have major itches too. :(