Las women suffer pain chronic more exacerbated (severe) than mena gap which can be explained by differences biological in it system immuneaccording to a nuevo study released on Friday.
The investigationpublished in the magazine Science Immunologycould open the way to treatments that allow reducing opioid analgesic prescriptionswhich carry a high risk of side effects and addiction.
“Women’s pain has been overlooked in clinical practice,” but “our study shows that the difference is real (…) it is not a social construction. There is a biological mechanism behind it,” he said. Geoffroy Laumetfrom the American State University of Michigan (MSU).
How do women and men experience pain?
He pain It occurs when neurons react to stimuli: for example, stubbing your toe or tripping and scraping your knee. But chronic pain persists with mild or even no stimulation, and women make up 60% to 70% of people who suffer from it, he explained. Laumet.
The study set out to see how cells immune regulated by hormonesknown as monocytesthey influence the pain to go away.
The researchers found that those monocytes They play a key role in communicating with neurons that they perceive he painand which then work to deactivate those pain-sensitive neurons producing the interleukin Antiinflammatory 10, or IL-10.
Their research did not initially seek to explore possible differences related to sex. But the data was clear: the pain took longer to go away in the mice, and the monocytes that produced IL-10 were less active in them.
According to the study, those cells are more active in maleswhich is explained by higher levels of hormones sexual like the testosterone.
New research
Laumet is confident that the new research can open new doors to improve pain treatment.
In the long term, he said, it will be possible to investigate how to stimulate monocytes and increase the production of IL-10 to “enhance the body’s ability to resolve pain.”
In the short term, Laumet sees potential where topical testosterone could become a viable option for alleviating localized suffering.
Elora Midavaineresearcher at the University of California in San Francisco who also studies chronic pain but was not involved in the research, said the new study adds “an important nuance” to the relationship between hormones and the immune system.
Her approach, which she says is part of a broader movement focused on the intersections of neuroscience with immunology and endocrinology, “has the potential to advance our understanding of chronic pain in women,” she said.
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