Why Pot Eases Pain
Pain triggers the release of the brain's natural version of marijuana, researchers said Monday.
Their finding helps explain why marijuana can relieve pain and adds to a whole series of studies that show that the chemical, one of a class known as anandamides, has a range of important roles in the brain.
Michael Walker, a psychology professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and colleagues tested pain and anandamide in rats.
They found the brain produced anandamide when they stimulated an area -- the periaqueductal gray -- known for its role in modulating pain. It also released anandamide in response to a painful injection of the chemical formalin.
The secretion of anandamide eased the pain, they reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers anesthetized their rats, but were able to follow the pain signals and the passage of anandamide in the brain using a new type of mass spectrometry, which is able to detect minute amounts of a substance.
Walker said the knowledge might be used to devise new painkillers or analgesics. Perhaps a drug that made more anandamide available would be useful, he said.
Read more at wired
