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A recent study found that pain signals in the body can travel as fast as tactile signals.
In monkeys and many other mammals, part of the pain signaling system can transmit nerve signals as quickly as the system that signals touch. Scientists have hypothesized that such a system would also be present in humans, reported the study published in the journal Science Advances.
"Our ability to feel pain is essential to our survival. Why should our pain signaling system be so much slower than the system used to touch it, and much slower than it could be?
To answer this question, scientists used a technique allowing them to detect signals in the nerve fibers of a single nerve cell. They examined 100 healthy volunteers and searched for nerve cells capable of transmitting signals as quickly as touch-sensitive nerve cells, but with the properties of pain receptors, also known as nociceptors.
The pain receptors are characterized by their ability to detect harmful stimuli, such as pinching and abrasion of the skin, without reacting to touch. The researchers found that 12% of the highly myelinated nerve cells had the same properties as the pain receptors and that in these nerve cells the conduction velocity was as high as in the nerve cells sensitive to touch.
The research then consisted in determining the function of these ultra-fast pain receptors. By applying short electrical pulses through the measurement electrodes, they could stimulate individual nerve cells. The volunteers described having experienced acute or acute pain.
"When we activated an individual nerve cell, it caused a perception of pain. We therefore conclude that these nerve cells are connected to the centers of pain in the brain, "Saad Nagi said.
The research team also studied patients with various rare neurological disorders. A group of people, in adulthood, suffered nerve damage that led to the destruction of myelinated nerve fibers, while the small fibers were spared. These patients can not detect light touch.
Scientists have predicted that the loss of myelinated nerve fibers should also affect the identified rapid-conduction pain system. It turned out that these people had an impaired ability to experience mechanical pains.
The examination of patients with two other rare neurological conditions gave similar results. These results can be very significant for pain research, as well as for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with pain.
"It becomes clear that the strongly myelinated nerve fibers contribute to the pain felt when it has a mechanical cause. Our findings challenge the description of a rapid tactile signaling system and a slower pain signaling system. We suggest that the pain can be reported as quickly as touch, "Saad Nagi said.
Posted on: July 6, 2019 10:39
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