New medicines that relieve pain

1999/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Farmakologia

A team of scientists at the University of San Francisco investigated the chemical reactions involved in the human immune system and identified the protein enzyme that favors the feeling of pain, the protein C Kinasa. When a part of the body is injured, the immune system emits a series of chemical signals to the injured tissues, which allow sensitizing neurons that feel pain, make the excitations that suffer in normal conditions become a painful signal and, therefore, the lower movement or blow becomes painful.

When the chemical signal reaches the affected cells, the signal receptors found on the cell surface transmit the signal into the cell where a molecular reaction occurs that excites neurons, causing the sensation of pain. The scientific team believes that this molecular reaction can slow the feeling of pain by creating drugs that stop the protein C Kinase found inside neurons.