Immune system It is related to the defense of the body before the pathogens, but it has other functions. A study in mouses suggests that female hormones can cause lymphocytes to produce a type of opioid to control pain.
Regulatory T cells (T-REG) are lymphocytes that regulate or suppress other immune system cells and can reduce inflammation, but a team from the University of California (USA) has discovered another function that explains in Science.
T-REPRICTION can inhibit nociception (conscious perception of pain) through a mechanism that does not depend on their ability to regulate immune activation or tissue repair, but on female hormones.
The discovery could help develop new treatments for chronic pain, explain why some analgesics work better in women than in men And why postmenopausal women suffer more pain.
Estrogen and progesterone, according to the study, stimulate the T-REB that are close to the spinal cord to produce analgesic encephalin, an opioid pentapéptide released by the nervous system that acts against pain and has analgesic effect.
“The fact that there is a sex dependent influence on these cells – impulsed by estrogen and progesterone – and that is not related at all with any immune function is very unusual”, In the opinion of Elora Midava, from the University of San Francisco and one of the signatories of the work.
The team observed, in mouses, the T-regs that are in the meninges (protective layers that cover the brain and spinal cord), which was believed to only serve to protect the central nervous system and eliminate waste.
However, researchers have discovered that the immune system uses meninges to communicate with distant neurons that detect skin sensations.
That communication begins when a neuron, often close to the skin, perceives something that could cause pain and send a signal to the spinal cord.
The team eliminated the t-regs that surround the lower part of the spinal cord with axin and verified that the females became more pain sensitive, while the males did not, A difference that suggests that they depend more on such lymphocytes to control pain.
Researchers still do not know how hormones do so that T-REPUST Encephalia, although they will continue to study it. However, knowing this sex dependent route can lead to new approaches to treat pain.
In the short term, you can help doctors choose more effective medications for a patient depending on their sexwhich could be especially useful for women who have passed menopause and no longer produce estrogen or progesterone, many of whom suffer chronic pain.
The team studies the possibility of designing T-regs to produce encephalin constantly both in men and women. If you succeed, “people really change” people with chronic pain that is not properly treated, according to Allan Basbaum, another of the study signatories.