Researchers have discovered that receptors responsible for our sense of touch and temperature are located in the colon, making it a potential therapeutic target for chronic pain associated with gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome.
Research led by Dr. Hongzhen Hu from the University of Washington and Dr. Nick Spencer from Flinders University has identified the existence of Piezo2, the subject of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which is now responsible for sensing light touch. It is known to be present on our skin. “It was discovered that this receptor is also present in our gut, and by selectively targeting these channels, we can reduce the sensation of pain from internal organs without having to take frequent opiate painkillers. Professor Spencer said: Professor Matthew Flinders, School of Medicine and Public Health;
Spencer, Hu and colleagues reported their findings in a 2016 paper, including experiments in mouse models of pain. neuron title”Piezo2 channels expressed by colonic innervating TRPV1 lineage neurons mediate visceral mechanical hypersensitivity”
Inflammatory and functional gastrointestinal disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and obstructive bowel disorder (OBD), underlie the most common forms of visceral pain, the authors write. “Chronic pain originating from internal organs, such as the bowel or bladder, is notoriously difficult to treat,” Dr. Spencer points out. “Opiate drugs, including morphine and its derivatives, have been commonly used to treat various types of pain, but visceral pain responds poorly to treatment, and the drug is highly addictive and many There are side effects.”
The authors say a lack of understanding of how sensory nerves transmit pain sensation from the gut to the brain has hampered the use of gut-selective analgesics. “The mechanisms underlying visceral pain are poorly understood and the resulting lack of effective clinical management represents a major unmet medical problem,” the researchers wrote. It pointed out. “Notably, unlike chronic somatic pain, which is the focus of research and drug development, visceral pain has been relatively neglected, despite having a greater clinical need.”
The research team’s newly reported study shows that mechanosensitive Piezo2 channels expressed by neurons of the TRPV1 lineage play a role in the development of visceral mechanical nociception under physiological conditions and in mice with IBS and partial colonic obstruction (PCO). demonstrated that it is critically involved in the development of mechanical hypersensitivity in the model. “…our results indicate that Piezo2 channels expressed by visceral nociceptors of the TRPV1 lineage mediate the majority of acute visceral mechanical nociception under physiological conditions,” the researchers wrote. said. “Importantly, the Piezo2 channel expressed by visceral nociceptors of the TRPV1 lineage has also emerged as an important mediator of pathological visceral mechanical hypersensitivity in mouse models of IBS and PCO, and thus the Piezo2 channel has been identified as a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of chronic visceral pain.”
It has long been known that there are many different ion channels in the “pain-sensing” neurons that communicate from the intestine to the brain, but new research shows that the “pain-sensing” neurons that transmit from the intestine to the brain contain many different ion channels, The major ion channels have been identified. It’s the sensation of pain, Spencer said. “Furthermore, we discovered that the primary ion channel that responds to this mechanical pain is a member of the Piezo ion channel, specifically Piezo2. Based on this knowledge, we can develop these methods while avoiding the devastating side effects of opioids. The hope is to create a treatment for visceral pain, which is common in conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, endometriosis, and abdominal cancer, by focusing on silencing the sensation of pain by targeting the I am.”