The study found that men and women have different causes of pain.

A recent study by Dr. Ted Price BS'97 and the Pain Neurobiology Research Group focused on the newly discovered pain mechanisms associated with D5 dopamine receptors.
new study from the University of Texas in the United States reinforces the idea that pain does not originate at the cellular level for both men and women.
Dr. Ted Price BS'97, Dr. Salim Megat and colleagues in the Pain Neurobiology Research Group recently found that a special treatment for the neurotransmitter dopamine receptor in the nervous system can reduce chronic pain in male mice, but not in female mice.
Price, an assistant professor of neuroscience in the Department of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, said a growing number of recent studies have shown that females and males have different origins of pain, a finding that reinforces this view.
published in Journal of Science. "While the level of pain may be the same for both females and males, the mechanisms that cause pain are very different,"
Price said.
we modified the cells, which completely reversed the occurrence of chronic pain in male mice, but only in males.
we learn that pain occurs by different types of cells.
" the experiment focused on a newly discovered pain mechanism associated with D5 dopamine receptors.
D5 dopamine receptors are one of the five neurotransmitter receptors identified.
the pain response of mice genetically modified to lack The D5 receptor was significantly reduced, but only in males. "This effect is limited to males only,"
Price said.
If we get the same results in human tissue, then we can use D5 antagonists to treat male pain.
" discovery was attributed to a study four years ago by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
previously, many preclinical trials used only males because it was relatively simple and therefore lacked the reproductive cycle that could regulate hormone levels.
when the NIH believes that scientific research includes both males and females, it clears the way for the discovery of this dimorphia (gender differences). "We've been ignoring a key variable for a long time, and I share everyone's self-blame,"
Price said.
as professionals, we didn't realize the problem until 2014.
NIH's decision is very correct.
all those who do these studies are discovering novel and interesting mechanisms that we have neglected in the past.
", Price added, the new study philosophically explains why some results from past monospecificstudies cannot be reproduced. "Over the past five years, researchers conducting clinical trials have often been frustrated because preclinical results cannot be reproduced in clinical studies,"
Price said.
the cause of the problem is likely to be that, until now, many preclinical researchers still use only maleanimals. After
, in clinical trials, the subjects were mainly female, because more women than men had chronic pain.
" new ways to treat pain, price said a growing number of studies that show significant differences between females and males could soon lead to new models for pain relief drugs. "It gives me the belief that when it comes to treating chronic pain, there is a good chance that we will need to develop drugs specifically for men or women,"
Price said.
If not, we may need to develop diagnostic methods to determine which cells cause the pain to prolong, so that we can design therapies based on potential mechanisms.
" Price admits that he is not satisfied with his findings because he also showed gender preferences in the study. "I was a little upset to find that the D5 receptor was a pain relief target,
" he said.
most chronic pain patients are women, not men, so I would prefer to develop treatments that work for women.
"s hope his study will further confirm that gender diphonism can lead to some changes in pain relief treatment and ultimately benefit patients with chronic pain, both men and women. "The discovery of the D5 mechanism is not that important in itself,"
said. what
really important is that there is a very significant mechanism of gender differences in the transition of pain into long-term.
If you look at research in this area, you know that we really need to pay close attention to the subject, and I think this study can lead to a breakthrough in this area.
"