Placebo reins in pain in brain.Pain relief provided by a substance with no active ingredients, called a placebo, may have neural as well as psychological origins. Men who reported relief from a painful jaw after receiving a placebo injection also showed signs of enhanced activity of a brain substance that regulates stress and suppresses pain, say Jon-Kar Zubieta of the University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. in Ann Arbor and his coworkers in the Aug. 24 Journal of Neuroscience The Journal of Neuroscience (Online ISSN 1529-2401) is a weekly scientific journal published by the Society for Neuroscience. The journal publishes peer-reviewed empirical research articles in the field of neuroscience. . The scientists administered an intravenous salt solution, which they described to volunteers as a pain reliever, to seven men who also received a jaw injection that caused a moderately painful muscle spasm muscle spasm n. Persistent increased tension and shortness in a muscle or group of muscles that cannot be released voluntarily. muscle spasm, n for about 20 minutes. Another seven men received the jaw injection but not the placebo. In brain scans of the placebo group only, positron-emission tomography and molecular-imaging techniques revealed pronounced activity at brain-cell receptors for chemical messengers known as endorphins endorphins (ĕndôr`fĭnz), neurotransmitters found in the brain that have pain-relieving properties similar to morphine. There are three major types of endorphins: beta endorpins, found primarily in the pituitary gland; and enkephalins and . Prior studies had linked endorphins to pain relief. Men who reported the greatest relief from the placebo injections exhibited the most-intense responses at endorphin endorphin Any of a group of proteins occurring in the brain and having pain-relieving properties typical of opium and related opiates. Discovered in the 1970s, they include enkephalin, beta-endorphin, and dynorphin. receptors in the brain, Zubieta's group reports. |
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