Nature relieves physical pain: pain-related signals in the brain are reduced

This effect even occurs with virtual nature – such as nature videos

17-Mar-2025 - In a new study, an international team of neuroscientists led by the University of Vienna has shown that experiencing nature can alleviate acute physical pain. Surprisingly, simply watching nature videos was enough to relieve pain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers found ...

Advance in pain relief research

Naturally occurring hederagenin binds to pain regulation receptor

13-Dec-2024 - A team of scientists led by Professor Annette Beck-Sickinger from the Institute of Biochemistry at Leipzig University has made an important advance in pain relief research. They discovered that hederagenin, a naturally occurring substance found in the medicinal plant ivy, binds to the pain ...

Understanding the roots of chronic pain

Ion channel that contributes to chronic pain identified, suggesting a new target for pain medication

16-Jul-2024 - A team of researchers led by Oscar Sánchez-Carranza in Professor Gary Lewin’s lab at the Max Delbrück Center have identified a new function for the PIEZO2 protein – in mediating chronic pain hypersensitivity. The research suggests a new target for analgesics and potentially explains why pain ...

Pain relief without side effects and addiction

Better than opiates: Researchers use adrenaline receptors for highly-effective analgesics

21-Oct-2022 - New substances that activate adrenalin receptors instead of opioid receptors have a similar pain relieving effect to opiates, but without the negative aspects such as respiratory depression and addiction. This is the result of research carried out by an international team of researchers led by ...

New study discovers how to prevent chemotherapy-associated neuropathic pain in colon cancer

A high percentage of cancer patients develop hypersensitivity to cold and touch in the extremities and mouth as a result of chemotherapy.

30-Aug-2022 - Researchers at the Instituto de Neurociencias (IN), a joint center of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the Universidad Miguel Hernández (UMH), have discovered how to prevent neuropathic pain associated with chemotherapy in the treatment of colon cancer, the second ...

Discovery of a potential new therapy for inflammatory arthritis

Researchers at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute in Toronto have made a discovery that could lead to new treatments for axial spondyloarthritis.

25-Oct-2021 - In a paper published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, part of University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, have made a discovery that could lead to new treatments for axial spondyloarthritis (SpA), a painful and debilitating ...

New electronic skin can react to pain like human skin

Prototype device electronically replicates the way human skin senses pain

07-Sep-2020 - Researchers have developed electronic artificial skin that reacts to pain just like real skin, opening the way to better prosthetics, smarter robotics and non-invasive alternatives to skin grafts. The prototype device developed by a team at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, can ...

Neandertals may have had a lower threshold for pain

People who inherited a special ion channel from Neandertals experience more pain

27-Jul-2020 - Pain is mediated through specialized nerve cells that are activated when potentially harmful things affect various parts of our bodies. These nerve cells have a special ion channel that has a key role in starting the electrical impulse that signals pain and is sent to the brain. According to a ...

Researchers achieve remote control of hormone release

22-Apr-2020 - Abnormal levels of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are linked to a variety of mental health disorders, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MIT researchers have now devised a way to remotely control the release of these hormones from the adrenal gland, ...

Activation of opioid receptor uncovered

29-Nov-2019 - Together with colleagues from Shanghai, Brussels, Canada and the USA, researchers from the University of Bonn have uncovered the binding mechanism of an important pain receptor. The results facilitate the development of new active substances. The opioids used today to treat severe pain can be ...