News Archive

A Sensitive Time in Development

Pain-specific brain activity arrives just before birth

by Megan Talkington on 19 Sep 2011

A litany of milestones—the first heartbeat of a fetus, the first movements, and finally, birth—mark the early development of a human being. And, somewhere along the way, comes the…

Research

“Funny” Current Is No Joke

Results pinpoint ion channel HCN2 as a potential instigator of neuropathic pain

by Megan Talkington on 12 Sep 2011

Comment

Overactivity of primary sensory neurons is a hallmark of neuropathic pain, and a collection of ion channels known as hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels appears to help propel that…

Research

Micromanaging Pain?

MicroRNA regulates calcium channel Cav1.2 and relieves pain

by Megan Talkington on 9 Sep 2011

Comment

What are the root causes of pain? The search often ends at ion channels and other regulators of neuron function. But another question lies just beyond: What regulates the…

Research

Kappa Opioid Receptors: Rekindling the Flame

Discoveries renew interest in targeting CNS kappa receptors to relieve pain

by Megan Talkington on 12 Aug 2011

Comment

For over 30 years, neurobiologists have flirted with kappa opioid receptors as possible targets for pain treatment in the central nervous system (CNS; Pasternak, 1980). That relationship, however, hasn’t…

Research

Arterial Spin Labeling Takes On Low Back Pain

Study advances search for neural correlates of chronic pain

by Megan Talkington on 10 Aug 2011

Comment

A physiologic measure of chronic pain is the fervent hope of many researchers, but achieving such a “biomarker” requires two intertwined advances: a measurement technique that is sensitive to…

Research

Blood-Seeking Bats Use TRPV1 Variant to Detect Dinner

Alternative splicing tunes channel responsiveness

by Megan Talkington on 8 Aug 2011

Comment

Vampire bats and a few species of snakes possess the remarkable ability to detect infrared thermal radiation emanating from warm-blooded prey. In a paper published in the August 4…

Research

TMJ Association Scientific Symposium: The Puzzle of Comorbid Chronic Pain

Researchers propose a new approach to overlapping pain conditions

by Pat McCaffrey on 8 Aug 2011

At a recent scientific symposium sponsored by the Temporomandibular Joint Association (TMJA), researchers and patient advocates outlined an agenda for a dramatic change in how a set of common…

Conferences

TRPs Through Time and Space

Developmental trajectory, tissue specificity of TRPV1, TRPA1 reveal new complexity of nociceptors

by Megan Talkington on 2 Aug 2011

Comment

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels in sensory neurons serve as first responders to painful stimuli, and when overactive, can drive pathological pain. Two recent studies make headway in understanding…

Research

Asthma Study Dissects Placebo Effects

Sham treatments alleviate patient-reported symptoms while leaving lung function untouched

by Megan Talkington and Pat McCaffrey on 26 Jul 2011

Comment

Patients with asthma could not tell the difference between placebo treatments and bona fide inhalers, even though an objective measure of lung capacity clearly distinguished active from inactive regimens.…

Research

A Pain Protection Plan in the CNS?

Descending modulation shapes susceptibility to neuropathic pain in rats

by Megan Talkington on 26 Jul 2011

Comment

Why does injury or surgery in some people lead to lasting pain, while in others the wound heals and the pain resolves along with it? A new study takes…

Research

Zinc Acts on NMDA Receptors to Relieve Pain

NR2A subunit takes role in pain processing

by Megan Talkington on 19 Jul 2011

Comment

The spinal cord and brain are brimming with zinc. But what is it doing there? Researchers working to pick apart the physiological roles of zinc in the central nervous…

Research

News Brief: Sodium Channel Structure Solved

by Megan Talkington on 19 Jul 2011

Linchpins of pain transmission, voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels generate action potentials in neurons. They are the sites of action of local anesthetics, and popular targets for new analgesic drug…

Research

Unexpected Role for Laminin in Skin Sensation

Extracellular matrix puts the brakes on mechanosensitive neurons

by Megan Talkington on 18 Jul 2011

In the skin, sensory neurons are in charge of detecting external stimuli, but they do not go it alone. A new line of research shows that skin cells, and…

Research

Sunburn Pain? Check Your Chemokines

Modeling UV skin damage in people uncovers a novel target for pain

by Megan Talkington on 12 Jul 2011

A novel translational study has revealed the chemokine CXCL5 as an important mediator of the inflammatory pain that occurs after sunburn. In a role reversal for humans and animal…

Research

Lancet Review: Most Chronic Pain Treatments Don’t Work

Article describes evidence gaps affecting clinical practice

by Megan Talkington on 7 Jul 2011

Comment

Three reviews published June 25 in The Lancet take a tour across the clinical spectrum of pain and strategies for care of cancer pain; acute postoperative pain; and chronic,…

Research

Dealing With Data Overload? A New Tool Automates Meta-analysis of fMRI Studies

A conversation with NeuroSynth developer Tal Yarkoni

by Megan Talkington on 5 Jul 2011

Comment

Faced with a deluge of data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, what are researchers to do? To deal with the problem, Tal Yarkoni, a postdoctoral fellow in…

People

Research

IOM Report Calls for Cultural Shift in Pain Treatment, Prevention, Research

Recommends stronger research leadership, more resources from NIH

by Pat McCaffrey on 1 Jul 2011

A new report on pain in the United States estimates that 119 million Americans, or one-third of the population, suffer from chronic pain, which costs the country on the…

Research

Gateways to Therapy?

A trio of ion channels showing potential as targets for new analgesics

by Megan Talkington on 1 Jul 2011

Comment

The list of molecular suspects in chronic pain is chock full of ion channels. Throughout pain pathways, these proteins nestle in cell membranes and regulate the influx of positively…

Research

A New Chapter for Sodium Channels

A conversation with neurologist and channelopathy expert Stephen Waxman

by Megan Talkington on 30 Jun 2011

The PRF caught up with Stephen Waxman, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, West Haven, Connecticut, for a Q&A about his work…

People

Research

Nav1.7 Mutations Move Into the Mainstream

Mutations in SCN9A linked to idiopathic small fiber neuropathy

by Megan Talkington on 25 Jun 2011

A new study shows that mutations in SCN9A, the gene encoding the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.7, lie behind some cases of idiopathic small fiber neuropathy (I-SFN), a relatively common…

Research

GWAS Uncovers Three New Variants Tied to Migraine

Association study reveals common genetic differences that contribute to headache

by Megan Talkington on 17 Jun 2011

Comment

Research

Curbing a Calcium Channel

A peptide inhibitor of CaV2.2–CRMP-2 interaction shows analgesic activity

by Megan Talkington on 13 Jun 2011

The N-type voltage-gated calcium channel (CaV2.2) plays crucial roles in pain transmission, making it a tantalizing therapeutic target. Blocking the channel directly, however, produces profound side effects. Last week,…

Research

Where Are Glia Going?

Studies in animals implicate microglia and astrocytes in chronic pain. But attempts to learn what those cells do in humans—and to stymie them to stop pain—have so far come up dry. What is the future for glia-targeted pain therapy?

by Megan Talkington on 9 Jun 2011

When pain researchers ponder cells in the central nervous system that contribute to chronic pain, their thoughts generally turn to just one culprit: neurons. But studies over the last…

Research

Natural Product Kills Pain, But How?

by Megan Talkington on 6 Jun 2011

Comment

Traditional Chinese, Indian, and Thai medicine uses the tropical plant Tabernaemontana divaricata (crepe jasmine) to alleviate fever and pain. The basis for that pain-relieving power has been a riddle,…

Research

Power in Numbers

Meta-analysis of microarray studies reveals similarities and differences among pain models

by Megan Talkington on 6 Jun 2011

Comment

Research

News Brief: An Express Route From Fibroblasts to Neurons

by Megan Talkington on 26 May 2011

Research

Feel the Heat? Thank TRPM3

A novel heat-sensing channel identified in nociceptors

by Megan Talkington on 25 May 2011

Comment

For more than a decade, members of the vanilloid subfamily of transient receptor potential channels (the TRPVs) have been known to transduce heat. Now, a distant relative joins them…

Research

Rodent, Heal Thyself

Study suggests rats self-medicate with a CB2 agonist to relieve pain

by Megan Talkington on 19 May 2011

In animal models, measuring responses to evoked pain is relatively straightforward, but it is a formidable challenge to figure out whether an animal is in pain, and whether an…

Drug Development

Research

Crosstalk among C. elegans sensory neurons regulates nociceptor responses

by Megan Talkington on 16 May 2011

Nociceptors face a constant stream of environmental stimuli, much of which they ignore until an extreme of heat or cold, or an injury, triggers them to send signals to…

Research

NIH Pain Consortium Symposium: When Pain Conditions Overlap

by Pat McCaffrey on 4 May 2011

Comment

Why are people who have one chronic pain condition like fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome at a higher risk for other kinds of chronic pain? Why is chronic pain…

Conferences

Research

The Power of Negative Thinking

Patients’ responses to treatment are colored by their expectations. If that’s the case, how can treatments be accurately tested?

by Megan Talkington on 20 Apr 2011

We all know that a patient’s positive expectation of treatment can sometimes create a positive result: That phenomenon is the basis for the placebo effect. Less appreciated is how…

News Brief: Get a Whiff of This—Mutations in SCN9A Linked to Anosmia

by Megan Talkington on 15 Apr 2011

Comment

Many threads tie SCN9A to pain. The gene encodes Nav1.7, a voltage-gated sodium channel vital for firing of nociceptors. In humans, mutations that boost the channel’s activity cause several chronic…

Research

Sensation on a Small Scale

What can flies and worms teach us about pain? PRF reports on recent discoveries in miniature models of nociception.

by Megan Talkington on 7 Apr 2011

Comment

As human pain proves more and more complex, researchers are finding ample reasons to seek out simpler models. The nematode C. elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster have…

Research

Comment
1 member recommends
Recommend

Getting to the Bottom of Some Strange Behavior

A conversation with Drosophila biologist W. Daniel Tracey

by Megan Talkington on 7 Apr 2011

Comment

In Sensation on a Small Scale, PRF looks at how Drosophila and C. elegans are being used to study the biology of nociception. Here, we find out how some…

People

Research

Taking Aim at Pain in the Brain

The anterior cingulate cortex may hold new drug targets for chronic pain

by Megan Talkington on 31 Mar 2011

How does chronic pain start? Many researchers now believe the bulk of the blame falls on the brain. But how can we make the pain stop? When it comes…

Drug Development

Research

Progress through collaboration

Utility Navigation

User Top Menu

Main menu

Search form

You are here

Pages

News

Most Popular News

Search News

The IASP Pain Research Forum is a publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain