麻豆影院

Patients who have abdominal surgery may want to think twice about taking morphine to treat their pain, according to findings in a CU-麻豆影院 study.

Taking morphine after abdominal surgery prolonged pain for weeks in a study on rats led by Peter Grace, a postdoctoral research fellow, and Erika Galer, a professional research assistant.

The team also found that both morphine and the surgery itself excited glial cells in the nervous system, causing them to send out additional pain signals to the surrounding nerves.

鈥淲hat we are saying is, if you give rats morphine, we know that also contributes to pain,鈥� Grace says. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e putting both of those on top of each other, you鈥檙e going to have a prolonged period of pain.鈥�

The team鈥檚 results echo other research done at CU-麻豆影院 and elsewhere that morphine can work against itself, despite being an effective painkiller.

Read more about .

Photography 漏iStock.com/smartstock