It has long been a known fact that men and women have different perceptions of both short-term and chronic pain.
Different ways of pain sensitivity
Feeling the pain appears in the transmission signal a consequence of peripheral nerves to the spinal cord and then to the cerebral cortex, which is interpreted as pain. Ate generally speaking, the pain of the whole looks the same, only men and women, it is perceived differently. This occurs because of the difference of the reaction, which causes at first microglia (immune cells of the nervous system), secondly in the chronic pain is another component of the immune system - T lymphocytes.
Different ways of pain sensitivity in men and women / istockphoto.com
For the study, researchers took mice introduced into the spinal cord molecule lipopolysaccharide - is one of the components of bacterial cells. This has helped to study chronic pain caused by inflammation. The study was conducted on the microglia, which act regulators "volume" for the pain. During the experiment, individuals of different sexes were given a powerful painkiller, but it worked only on males. Females suffering from pain. Thus, scientists have found that the control of pain in females are T lymphocytes. This enabled the researchers to conclude that, if remove T cells, the model of the perception of pain in women can change the male.
The difference in hormones
These studies made it possible to understand that the process of switching signaling a control pain hormones. Further experiments in mice have shown that if the male to enter the excess of the female hormone estrogen (female hormone), its ability to endure the pain worsened. When the female administered testosterone (male hormone), then it can no longer tolerate pain.
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