SHAFAQNA SCIENCE- Researchers from the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, along with colleagues from the University of Cambridge, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, have demonstrated the potential of a new gene therapy approach to suppress human sensory neurons (nerve cells) to treat persistent pain. Many current medications for chronic pain are highly addictive, so it is important to find new alternatives.
According to Oxford News, Chemogenetics is a process in which molecules that control the firing (stimulation) of neurons are engineered to become active only in the presence of a nontoxic drug. This process has already shown promise in animal studies for suppressing such excitability.
Jimena Perez-Sanchez, postdoctoral researcher in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and co-author of the study with Steven Middleton, and her colleagues have now shown that there is a chemogenetic approach suitable for use in humans.
Source: Oxford News