Brain nerve circuit changes lead to ma chi pain

The Journal of Neuroscience recently reported that a group of researchers at Tokyo Women's Medical University has demonstrated that ghost pain may be caused by changes in the brain nervous system.

Professor Miyata Mariko, the head of the research team, said they conducted experiments on mice by severing sensory nerves in the beard that mice normally use to recognize the outside world, then Use special methods to study the changes of sensory nerve fibers and nerve cells in the hippocampus.

They discovered that the neural circuit in the hippocampus appeared to be 'reformed' , a nerve cell in the original hippocampus's brain would expand a nerve fiber, but within a week after being cut off sensory nerve endings, a nerve cell will expand the number of nerve fibers.

In addition, in the neurons in the hippocampus, there is also a large number of receptors that are often not seen in mature individuals, making neurotransmission slow.

Professor Miyata Mariko added that the rapid determination of neural circuit changes after limb amputation will be highly effective in early rehabilitation before the onset of disease.

In addition, if this amount of receptor is considered as a criterion for ghost pain, the effectiveness of rehabilitation therapy can be determined.

About 5,000 people are cut off every year in Japan due to traffic accidents or illnesses, of which 50% to 85% suffer from ghost pain.

However, because painkillers do not work and lack of objective indicators show symptoms of symptoms, so there is no effective treatment, but only rehabilitation treatment can be conducted.