Persistent pain is a way of life for most people with a spinal cord injury. Pain, what causes it, and how it's transmitted are still in many ways mysteries. SO, we were very please to get this bit of good news from the University of Maryland School of Medicine this week. The Foundation happens to be a co-sponsor for this work by Dr. Asaf Keller and his colleagues.
"University of School of Medicine
researchers have uncovered a critical mechanism involved in Central Pain
Syndrome, a poorly understood condition that affects people who suffer from
spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and stroke. Patients compare the
mysterious pain associated with this syndrome to being stabbed with a thousand
burning knives. There is no treatment for the syndrome — it does not respond to
traditional pain medications — and as a result, those who suffer from the
condition have an unusually high rate of suicide.
Scientists at the School of Medicine have discovered that this
syndrome can be traced to a gradual loss of activity in an area of the brain
called the “zona incerta,” or zone of uncertainty. Patients with spinal cord
injury, stroke or MS undergo a gradual loss of activity in that area, according
to the study. The zona incerta inhibits pain signals from traveling on to the
rest of the brain, allowing people to discern between excruciating pain and
simple stimulation, like a pin ***. When the zona incerta is not functioning
properly, too many pain signals make it to the thalamus and to the rest of the
brain, the scientists found. A simple breeze on the skin is perceived as an
excruciating attack; the feeling of putting on clothes is unbearably painful.
The researchers hope to find a way
to intervene before the zona incerta deterioriates after a spinal cord injury,
stroke or the onset of MS. They’ll begin testing their ideas in patients very
soon. “These studies could finally mean relief for these patients for whom there
is really no treatment,” says Scott Thompson, Ph.D., a professor physiology at
the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “They’re desperate for anything.”
The study, led by Asaf Keller, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and neurobiology at
the School of
Medicine, was published in
the online edition of The Journal of Neurophysiology."Read more about this paper.
Read Dr. Thompson's paper on central pain syndrome. (You have to scroll down and you'll see the whole page.)
Rob
