Research Highlights
VA-Yale team finds molecular basis for 'phantom pain'
October 5, 2005
Researchers from VA and Yale University School of Medicine identified a molecular basis for "phantom pain," a phenomenon in which amputees and patients with spinal cord injury experience the sensation of excruciating pain in a limb that is no longer there, or that has lost all perception. The research team reported that the problem is due to over-sensitive brain cells in the thalamus, a region of the brain that relays sensory messages to the cerebral cortex. Specifically, these brain cells, or neurons, contain abnormally high levels of a specialized protein that serves as a "battery" in the brain, allowing electrical impulses to travel between neurons.
Jaeger LB, Banks WA, Varga JL, Schally AV. Antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone cross the blood-brain barrier: a potential applicability to treatment of brain tumors.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Aug 30;102(35):12495-500. Epub 2005 Aug 23.