Scientists from the University of Cuyo (Uncuyo) discovered that the therapeutic targets evaluated for the treatment of chronic pain change during life, so the same drugs that are used for this type of condition act differently in young people than in older people.
These findings, made by researchers from the Institute of Histology and Embryology of Mendoza (IHEM) (Uncuyo-Conicet) and published in the scientific journal Biogerontologymodify what was known in the field in the pathophysiology of pain, reported that house of studies
The IHEM scientists focused on examining how four proteinswhich have been shown to play important roles in the sensory disturbances that accompany chronic pain, change with aging and so see that roles they normally fulfill at different ages.
“ORn 50% of patients suffering from chronic pain do not achieve adequate and efficient control of their painTherefore, their quality of life deteriorates and various co-morbidities appear. This reality is still more pronounced in people older than 65 years, group in which the incidence of therapeutic failure for the chronic pain of pathological origin approaches 70%“, explained Cristian Acosta, director of the investigation.
?????? Researchers from UNCUYO and CONICET discovered that the therapeutic targets evaluated for the treatment of chronic pain are modified during life.https://t.co/M5WCvS33Gk pic.twitter.com/QbfHeKHBGN
— UNCUYO (@UNCUYO) January 18, 2023
The scientist remarked that “you have a incomplete and imperfect understanding of the processes that underlie the generation and maintenance of this type of pain in older people” he expressed and also “pre-clinical and clinical research is carried out in young, healthy, white people, which makes it impossible to know how effective it is a therapy in a different age group.
In this sense, he considered that “the findings allow us to see that the dogma that the causes of chronic pain are the same at all ages and that, therefore, it is possible to treat it at any time in life with the same drugs, is not correct.” Acosta emphasized.
