麻豆影院

Audio Script

Narcotic painkillers prolong pain, CU-麻豆影院 study finds
May 30, 2016听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Peter Grace
As paradoxical as this may sound, a new CU-麻豆影院 study reveals that opioids like morphine have now been shown to cause an increase in chronic pain in lab rats, findings that could have far-reaching implications for humans, says researcher Peter Grace. He says that just a few days of morphine treatment caused chronic pain that went on for several months by exacerbating the release of pain signals from specific immune cells in the spinal cord. 听
CUT 1 鈥淭he study shows that morphine treatment after nerve injury doubles the duration of pain. So we know that opioids are signaling at this immune receptor that鈥檚 expressed in the spinal cord, among other places, that鈥檚 recognizing opioids as something that鈥檚 foreign and needs to be eliminated (:18) and so it鈥檚 triggering this immune response causing the release of these pain molecules that are then increasing the perception of pain in the brain.鈥� (:27)
Peter Grace is an assistant research professor in CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. The results suggest that the recent escalation of opioid prescriptions in humans may be a contributor to chronic pain, said Grace.
CUT 2 鈥淚nitially the morphine does work and it produces great pain relief and we know that over time the ability for morphine to produce analgesia or pain relief diminishes over time. (:13) And what we鈥檙e showing is rather than alleviating pain it鈥檚 actually inducing it.鈥� (:18)
The study showed that the injury sends a message from damaged cells to spinal cord immune cells known as glial cells, which normally act as 鈥渉ousekeepers鈥� to clear out unwanted debris and microorganisms. The first signal of pain sends glial cells into an alert mode, priming them for further action.
CUT 3 鈥淚n this case I really don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a healthy thing to do. I think that this is an aberrant response. (:06) These are evolutionary ancient receptors and so they recognize really broad patterns and so the pattern of morphine is being recognized by these receptors as something that鈥檚 foreign and needs to be eliminated鈥� (:20)
On the up side, the researchers have found ways to block specific receptors on glial cells that recognize opioids. This could allow for some pain relief while potentially preventing chronic pain.
CUT 4 鈥淚 think the steps forward with this then is looking to inhibit this immune response as an adjuvant to pain relief. (08) So you can still take your opioids but if you block this immune response that鈥檚 occurring at the same time then you can still get that pain relief but you can prevent these long term consequences from occurring.鈥� (:20)
Roughly 20,000 Americans died in 2015 from overdoses of prescription opioid pain relievers, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
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