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What is neuroinflammation and why does it cause severe burning pain even when there seems to be no injury? Let me explain it as simply as I can. Say you sprain your ankle. Your ankle then hurts, swells, discolors, and the pain limits use. The swelling occurs because of “healing” chemicals that move into the […]
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be generated from adult cells. iPSCs have the potential to develop into any cell type in the human body. These cells hold an enormous therapeutic potential in a variety of conditions. Including but not limited to cardiac diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, and diabetes. A team of researchers
Experiments to block receptors deep within spinal neurons, metabotropic glutamate 5 receptors (mGluR5), may open the door to more effective treatments for neuropathic pain. Understanding how the body processes pain is essential to understanding how to better treat it. Aiding in that understanding has been intense research on one of the key players that transmit
Using patient-derived stem cells, researchers create laboratory neuron models that reflect a patient’s response to a pain drug. Pain can be tough to take, and it’s also difficult to study: rodent models for pain do not necessarily translate to human pain conditions and expression of disease-causing mutations in cell lines may not precisely mimic the
Researchers Map Full-length Protein Involved in Chronic Pain, with Hopes for Future Therapies Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers have discovered the full-length structure of a protein named Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid subtype 2 (TRPV2), with implications for the development of new treatments for chronic pain and cancer. The paper, “Structure of the full-length TRPV2 channel by
The incidence of type 2 diabetes has increased strikingly in the last several decades. Accompanying this development has been an increase in the incidence of diabetic neuropathy, leading to progressive pain, loss of sensation (primarily in the feet), weakness, and disability. Conventional therapy has consisted largely of attempts to control the diabetes and to moderate
Okazaki, Japan – When we are in pain, we reach for painkillers as we try to “turn off” the pain. Unfortunately, this does not always work, and this problem has prompted researchers around the world to seek the “main switch” that can promptly and effectively conduct this switching off. Pain comes in many forms; one
Phantom limb pain (PLP) is described as mild to extreme pain in an amputated limb. It was previously thought as a psychological response of patients who underwent amputation, but recent studies reveal scientific evidence of pain sensation that originates from the brain and spinal cord. Although phantom limb pain is often seen in patients with
Neurology researchers link mutations in myelin protein to Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, an inherited neuropathy. PHILADELPHIA – Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT) is in the family of inherited neuropathy, of the peripheral nervous system, affecting approximately one in 2,500 Americans. Its most common iteration, CMT1, comes in many forms, most of which have to date been linked to a small
A new study of acupuncture, the most rigorous and detailed analysis of the treatment to date, found that it can ease migraines and arthritis and other forms of chronic pain. The findings provide strong scientific support for an age-old therapy used by an estimated three million Americans each year. Though acupuncture has been studied for
