pain tagged posts

Researchers have a better understanding of the nocebo effect and the neuroscience behind it all. Opposite of the better-known placebo effect, where positive expectations trigger genuine pain relief, the nocebo effect is the experience from negative expectations, created by prior experience, verbal suggestion, or social observation, which can drive anxiety and make pain worse.

A new study published in Nature Communications, by researchers at the University of Toronto Mississauga and McGill University, identified a brain pathway through which negative expectations can amplify pain. The findings, generated independently by the two labs without prior coordination, converged on the neurochemical cholecystokinin (CCK), which has previously been linked to nocebo pain responses in humans.

Chronic pain is life-changing and considered one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, making daily life difficult for millions of people around the world, and exacerbating personal and economic burdens. Despite established theories about the molecular mechanisms behind it, scientists have been unable to identify the specific processes in the body responsible, until now.

In an exciting collaboration, a team led by NDCN’s Professor David Bennett, and Professor Simon Newstead in the Department of Biochemistry and Kavli Institute for NanoScience Discovery, have identified a new genetic link to pain, determined the structure o...

Researchers develop artificial tendons in vitro from human stem cells that could fix common tendon injuries such as Achilles tendon rupture. Tendons are tissues that connect muscles to bones and are important for movement and locomotion. Injuries to tendons are quite common, with millions of people — particularly athletes — affected worldwide, and can often take many months to recover from, significantly impacting quality of life. Furthermore, while many options for treatment exist, none of them are perfect cures and many result in pain, immunogenicity, or long-term treatment failure. Therefore, a novel therapeutic strategy for tendon repair is needed.

In a study published in the Journal of Tissue Engineering in January 2022, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TM...

A Duke University research team has found a small area of the brain in mice that can profoundly control the animals’ sense of pain.

Somewhat unexpectedly, this brain center turns pain off, not on. It’s also 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.

“People do believe there is a central place to relieve pain, that’s why placebos work,” said senior author Fan Wang, the Morris N...