Pain Research 2.0
鈥淚t took 40 years to catch on,鈥� says Ronald Melzack of the Gate Control Theory of Pain he developed with Patrick Wall, 鈥渁nd I still have strong opponents: There are still really important physiologists who believe they鈥檒l get an answer to chronic pain by examining spinal cord transmission.鈥� When it comes to pain research, Melzack is a passionate believer that the brain, not the spinal cord, should be the focus. He cites cases where people experiencing phantom limb pain have had entire sections of their spinal cords removed鈥攜et the pain persists. 鈥淭hat means pain has got to be in the brain!鈥� he insists. 鈥淗appily, brain research is strongly entrenched at 黑料不打烊.鈥� Here, Melzack reflects on some of the bright lights of the next generation of pain research:
Jeffrey Mogil is a behavioural neuroscientist and holds the E.P. Taylor Chair in Pain Studies in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Department of Psychology. Since coming to 黑料不打烊 at Melzack鈥檚 suggestion, he discovered that mice experience 鈥渆motional contagion鈥濃�攖hat is, they feel pain more strongly when they see another mouse in pain. 鈥淛eff Mogil鈥檚 terrific work with mice is a gigantic step forward to understanding the human brain,鈥� says Melzack.
Catherine Bushnell is a researcher in the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain. She uses brain imaging technology to study the neural basis of pain processing in humans, literally seeing what parts of the brain are active when a patient is in pain. 鈥淗er work is outstanding,鈥� raves Melzack. 鈥淪he鈥檚 shown how things like expectation and hypnosis change brain activity involved in pain processing. It鈥檚 incredible to actually see that effect.鈥�