Chronic back pain linked to reduced dopamine function in the striatum

The vast majority of people will experience back pain at some point in their lives. In up to 40% of adults, back pain becomes chronic or recurrent; however, the underpinnings of pain chronification are poorly understood. Now, a new PET study evaluating dopamine and opioid signalling has demonstrated that patients with chronic non-neuropathic back pain (CNBP) show reduced dopamine receptor binding potential in the striatum. Moreover, a pain challenge (intramuscular injection of hypertonic saline) was linked to a further decrease in dopaminergic signalling via reduced dopamine release in patients with CNBP relative to healthy controls. CNBP was also associated with altered μ-opioid-receptor-mediated antinociception in the amygdala, supporting the notion that dopamine–opioid interactions in the brain are involved in the pathophysiology of chronic pain.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nrneurol.2015.135

 

[spiritofaslan]

*head explodes*

That's too much science for one day for me

 

[Captain Ibis]

*head explodes*

That's too much science for one day for me

Lol. Apparently it can play a role in all forms of chronic pain, not just back, that just happened to be the article I came across.

 

[Old Woof Woof]

A recent study found that most people that suffer neck pains can be cured quite easily. Have you ever had people that you know that go on and on and on about issues, talk to you about totaly boring and uninteresting subjects and never shut up. Well the simple solution is to keep well away from them and voila you no longer put up with a.pain in the neck.
Medical problem solved quite easily.