pain management tagged posts

Opioid use is highly effective for pain management but is associated with high rates of addiction and deaths due to overdose. Now, an international team of researchers has developed a soft, bioresorbable, implantable device which can provide a cooling effect to peripheral nerves, leading to blocking of pain signals. The device demonstrated high precision and efficacy in rat models with spared nerve injuries and can serve as an effective substitute for opioids.

Owing to their high efficacy, opioids are used widely for the management of neuropathic pain, despite the increasing rates of opioid addiction and deaths due to overdose. To avoid these side effects, there is an urgent need for pain management approaches that can substitute opioid use.

It is well known that cold temperatur...

This image, captured with a high-powered confocal laser microscope, shows pain-sensing neurons in the skin of a larval fruit fly. Credit: Stephanie E. Mauthner

Indiana Uni researchers have that found a suite of genes in both fruit flies and humans – including one dubbed “smoke alarm” – plays a role in nerve sensitivity. The study could help lead to new drug targets in pain management. “Our study is the first to thoroughly assess the function of a large set of genes expressed at high levels in nociceptive neurons, the nerves responsible for the sensation of pain in humans,” Tracey said. “It represents a significant step forward in the field of nociception and pain research.”

A total of 36 genes were identified as having a role in either hypersensitivity or lack of sensation to stimuli, 20 o...