Biology- Medical Research Seeks Relief of Pain

[Music] at siba gagi research scientists create products which enrich the quality of Our Lives products to increase our food supply dyes and pigments which surr around us with color Pharmaceuticals to improve our Health Products which reaffirm the value of science to mankind as part of its continuing program in support of Science Education siba gagi is pleased to present this issue of the science screen [Music] report the science screen report developments in science engineering and Medicine that help solve the problems of modern life pain a sensation everyone experiences but no one fully understands currently at least one person in 10 suffers from chronic pain arthritis migraine headache dental pain lower back pain and other types today pain is a major area of intense scientific research this is a report on new advances in this field of study science versus pain [Music] in some early societies individuals were conditioned to accept Pain by enduring stinging ants these children were prepared for life's [Music] discomforts other cultures developed special disciplines for dealing with pain techniques that researchers are still investigating [Music] today 2,000 years ago the Greek philosopher Aristotle discouraged the study of pain for him pain was was not a sensation but an intense emotion the opposite of pleasure in the Middle Ages physical pain was often depicted as deserved suffering or punishment the reason for pain was a moral matter not a mystery for science to solve by the 1800s Physicians had begun to use ether and nitrous oxide to relieve pain in dentistry and surgery such an athesia remains a major Triumph of medicine at the same time doctors began to find medications from aspirin to Morphine to control pain ideally they combined great potency with minimal abuse potential and side effects to better understand pain doctors Patrick Wall of MIT and Ronald mzac of McGill University proposed the gate control pain Theory much simplified the gate control pain theory states that millions of sense receptors throughout the body send data on temperature and other conditions to the brain receptors and brain are linked via an intricate nerve Network the network converges on the spinal cord where a gate control is thought to exist this gate usually stays shut and drugs can close it blocking pain signals but when it opens the signals register in in the brain as pain Sensations pain gate theorist melac comments we are now beginning to understand how complicated pain mechanisms actually are there are opportunities for pain signals to be modified and modulated in the course of their transmission from some damaged part of the body to the brain where pain is perceived for instance when stimulated one set of nerve cells or Neons is known to deliver a quick burst of pain signals causing the person to react before damage becomes too great while microc seconds later a second separate set of neurons delivers additional pain signals causing a dull ache which leads the person to care for the injured part and perhaps to learn to avoid reinjury in the future pain responses are also known to be affected by what the organism is doing at the time sleeping or grooming feeding mating fighting each evokes a particular reaction to the pain stimulus she'll be working together the gate control theory is applied to help surgical patients by being told the types of P pain to expect and the medications to be used the patients can better mobilize their own body's resources pain and I want to stress to you that pain in this setting is normal that we will be taking care of you to lessen the problem primarily we will be giving you for your anxiousness preoperatively a tranquilizer after surgery explanations and support also help shut the pain gate thus to some extent the gate is under the patient's conscious control is it better than it was better if you should notice any swelling or any increase in the pain it's imperative that you get a hold of me right away the worst thing you can do is to delay much research today is concerned with individuals who suffer chronic pain either as a distinct malady itself or due to other health problems such chronic pain has no useful function but only produces stress anxiety sleep problems depression one answer is the pain clinic a team of health professionals each applying particular therapies unfortunately neither surgery nor long-term medication may be sufficient Instead The Chronic pain may continue month after month biof feedback pain control is one recent pain clinic treatment the electrodes taped to this woman's fingers pick up minute changes in skin resistance which may vary with the level of pain so the monitor's sound signal indicates the Pain's [Music] intensity somehow the patient then learns to mentally control the signal to go with it and so learns to reduce the pain itself in a sense biof feedback pain control is a scientific form of the Indian yoga's self-discipline besides biof feedback hypnosis and meditation have shown limited but useful results in pain [Music] control now relax your right hand recently experts at the University of Aberdine and John's Hopkins University made a major discovery that further explains the ancient mystery of pain the discovery the brain's billions of neurons employ chemicals called neurotransmitters to place messages in particular sites called receptor neurons the body's sense receptors and medications carried by The Blood also act at these specific sites one such brain chemical called en keyin known to relieve pain and produce Euphoria originates near the spinal [Music] cord another found in the brain itself and 200 times as powerful as morphine is called beta endorphin both are part of the pituitary hormone called beta lipotropin a person's sensitivity to pain is thought to depend on the body's ability to produce these chemicals the brain chemicals act in receptor neurons at the base of the brain when pain signals begin to arrive shown in red the brain chemicals shown in green are released and plug into the receptor neurons blocking them as a result the next pain signals may cause only greatly reduced pain Sensations this laboratory research film courtesy of Dr Terry Olen is evidence for the existence of the brain chemicals the red light at lower right signals a mild electric stimulus given the monkey's tooth a man-made toothache so the monkey hits a lever that turns off the tooth stimulus now a mild brain stimulus indicated by the white light is given via the cables to produce quantities of brain chemicals a second man-made toothache note the light at lower right is applied but this time the monkey is indifferent brain chemicals now block the receptor sites and the monkey appears to feel no pain more knowledge about the brain chemicals was gathered by Dr Bruce pomerance sponsor by the national research Council of Canada his studies dealt with the Oriental Healing Art called acupuncture Dr pomerance found that acupuncture doesn't work on test animals lacking these brain chemical sites or lacking the critical chemicals themselves he proposes that acupuncture works by stimulating production of the brain chemicals if so acupuncture has been given a science scientific basis which may lead to its becoming a more effective medical tool the newly found brain chemicals may also clarify the operation of electronic nerve stimulators another pain management Technique One Theory holds that such devices stimulate the body's own production of anti- pain brain chemicals acting as a sort of pain controlled pacemaker a typical nerve stimulator produces current current pulses lasting 50 to 250 micros seconds too brief to be themselves painful stimulator and battery pack weigh a quar of a kilogram prescribed only by physicians they must be used with followon Health Care programs not all cases respond but the devices are helping significant numbers of pain sufferers permanently implanted stimulators are another new answer here a surgeon positions the electrode and adjusts the stimulus level until the pain decreases again this approach is effective only with some patients for almost all of human history people have had to accept pain as their fate in life today such advances as pain gate control theory pain clinics biof feedback pain control the new science of brain chemistry and pain control nerve stimulators offer New Hope one current project is studying and synthesizing brain chemicals a step towards new pain control medications other work focuses on their possible role in drug addiction mental illness and other Behavior some experts believe that ultimately the study of brain chemicals will reveal that what we call thoughts and feelings are immensely complex electrochemical reactions in the brain as always in science and medicine the challenge is not simply to unravel old or new Mysteries but to apply what has been learned with skill Vigor and compassion science screen report has been presented by siba's Cranston Rhode Island plant producers of more than 100 chemical products including Optical brighteners for detergents and pharmaceutical active ingredients