Scientists have now discovered the reason behind the differences in pain perception between men and women. According to recent studies, the distinctions between male and female nerve cells may contribute to it.
Researchers report in Brain on June 3 that pain-sensing nerve cells from male and female animal tissues reacted differently to the identical sensitizing chemicals. The findings imply that pain is produced differently in the sexes at the cellular level.
The findings could enable scientists “to develop medications that would be specific to treat female patients or male patients,” according to Katherine Martucci, a neuroscientist who is not associated with the work but specializes in chronic pain research at Duke University School of Medicine. There’s no disagreement on that. These variations are evident in the cells.
It’s unknown why some forms of acute and chronic pain seem to affect one sex more frequently than the other. For example, chronic pain issues affect around 50 million persons in the United States (SN: 5/22/23). Rheumatoid arthritis and migraines account for around half of all chronic pain illnesses; gout and other conditions that affect only 20% of the population are more common in men. There are comparable differences for acute ailments.
These variations spurred pain researcher Frank Porreca of the University of Arizona Health Sciences in Tucson, along with associates, to investigate nociceptors, which are nerve cells that function as bodily alarms. The body’s pain sensors, which are present in the skin, organs, and other tissues, are able to recognize potentially harmful stimuli and transmit signals to the brain, which interprets the data as pain. When this happens, the nerve cells may become more responsive to external stimuli and may interpret even mild sensations, such as a shirt rubbing against sunburned skin, as pain.
The effects of prolactin, a hormone, and orexin B, a neurotransmitter, which can sensitize nerve cells to pain, were investigated by the researchers using tissue from mice, monkeys, and humans. The nerve cells’ threshold for sending electrical signals to the brain alerting it to a problem is lowered when they identify these compounds and become more responsive to stimuli. In all three animals, female nerve cells were more active than male nerve cells when exposed to prolactin. On the other hand, orexin B increased the activity of male nerve cells.
According to research coauthor Harrison Stratton, a neuroscientist at the University of Pittsburgh, the data show that there are differences between men and women even at the initial stage of the pain pathway.
Pain medications can be customized for men and women if the factors that cause pain vary by gender, according to Porreca. This may entail preventing sensitivity to orexin B in men and prolactin in women. Numerous studies have already been conducted on the two drugs’ effects on various bodily functions, including lactation and sleep. A few orexin blockers that the US has approved. Food and Drug Administration’s treatment of insomnia may be applied to pain management. Additionally, Porreca and associates had already identified an antibody that blocks prolactin, which may be useful in the treatment of a number of ailments, including infertility and discomfort in women.
Findings regarding pain in mice typically don’t translate well to humans. However, Martucci notes that more research and testing may reveal that future medications targeting prolactin and orexin B could prove to be an effective means of managing pain because the specific pain pathway examined in the study appears to function similarly in mice, monkeys, and humans. It’s providing us with a clear idea of where we want to go.
Although the study finds differences between the sexes, Richard Miller, a pharmacologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, points out that a confluence of many other potential factors frequently causes pain. This raises the possibility that many other drugs could have produced comparable outcomes, he says, raising the question of whether prolactin and orexin B are specifically significant targets.
Related Posts
