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Placebo sparks brain painkillers
Placebo sparks brain painkillers -- Posted by Roman Bystrianyk on 08-24-05 14:43
"Placebo sparks brain painkillers", BBC News, August 24, 2005,
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4176078.stm
US researchers say they have evidence of why some people get pain
relief from sham treatment.
They looked at the so-called placebo effect - when a person is
successfully treated by a dummy drug just because they believe it
works.
Using brain scans the University of Michigan Health System scientists
found placebo treatment triggers the brains natural painkillers, called
endorphins.
Their work on 14 volunteers appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Physical phenomenon
Researchers have already shown that some people given a placebo
experience reduced pain sensation and have lower activity in brain
regions that process pain as a result.
Dr Jon-Kar Zubieta and his team set out to see precisely what was
happening in the brain.
They injected a salt water solution into the jaw muscles of the
volunteers to cause pain.
At the same time, the volunteers had their brains scanned by a positron
emission tomography (PET) scanner that would show up any endorphin
activity.
During one of the scans, the volunteers were told they would also
receive a medicine that might relieve the pain. This medicine was
actually a dummy drug.
Throughout the experiments the volunteers were asked to score their
level of pain and what they were experiencing.
After they received the placebo, nine of the volunteers reported much
less pain and were able to tolerate higher doses of the pain-inducing
salt water injections.
"Natural" painkillers
Their brain scans also showed that they had more endorphin activity
after simply being told they were about to get the "medicine".
The most pronounced effects were seen in four parts of the brain known
to be involved in processing and responding to pain, namely the left
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the pregenual rostral right anterior
cingulate, the right anterior insular cortex and the left nucleus
accumbens.
Furthermore, activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was
associated with the expectation of pain relief.
Activation of the other brain areas was associated with relief of the
intensity of pain, how unpleasant it was and how the individuals felt
emotionally during the pain.
Dr Zubieta said the findings show that the placebo effect is not purely
psychological and has, at least partly, a physical explanation.
"The endorphin system was activated in pain-related areas of the brain,
and that activity increased when someone was told they were receiving a
medicine to ease their pain."
Dr George Lewith from Southampton University, who has studied the
placebo effect and acupuncture, said: "I'm not at all surprised by the
findings.
"They are consistent with what we know and have suspected. There is a
physical side to the placebo response. You get a physiological change
induced by expectancy."
He said that research so far suggested that 80-90% of people who
benefit from analgesic drugs would probably get relief from a placebo
too.
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