http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=a-new-type-of-painkiller-2009-04-14
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A New Type of Painkiller
While anesthetics are effectively used to numb certain body parts (especially to avoid any pain after surgery, for example) one major problem is that anesthetics, which cause nerve blocks, sometimes damage muscles and nerves. Scientists recently experimented with anesthetics on rats. They placed a potent numbing chemical, saxitoxin, in tissues of fat called liposomes and injected the liposomes into the surrounding sciatic nerves of the rats (which runs from the lower back to the feet) which eventually released the saxitoxin. Then they placed the rats on a relatively hot surface to see if the rats would try to jump off of the surface. They discovered that the rats injected with saxitonin lost sensation in their feet and legs for two days, and they later discovered that the rats couldn't feel a thing when they were injected with saxitoxin and another chemical, dexamethasone. Because humans have similar nervous systems to those of rats, doctors believe that humans would benefit significantly from the use of these anesthetics (especially after surgeries that could result in nagging pain for a long duration of time) because the anesthetics would not only maintain their effects but also not damage any muscles or nerves. However, doctors must be very careful, because if they inject these anesthetics in the blood vessel instead of fat tissue, it could result in muscle paralysis.
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4 comments:
This new type of painkiller could be groundbreaking because of its effectiveness and endurance. Many patients would feel better and maybe get better faster if they didn't have to experience post-operation surgery. The only danger is this anesthetic's ability to paralyze muscles.
This does seem fairly risky. I think it can be important to feel pain, especially sometimes after surgery. The sensation of pain is an indicator of how your body is doing, and I would think in some cases doctors would want to take only the edge off of, but not eliminate, the pain. However, this is an exciting new advance for someone who might be experiencing chronic pain, and I think it will be very beneficial in the future.
Yes I would have to agree with Peter on this note..If one never feels pain and puts themselves in a situation or activity that has pain..with out feeling the pain they could further hurt themselves with out knowing. This is a fairly impressive discovery but i feel that it should be revised a bit more.
I also think Peter makes a good point. It is, of course, great that this may keep people out of pain that could be debilitating or just plain annoying. However, if dosages and such aren't properly worked out, it seems like this could be pretty bad. That happened in an episode of Testees and it was definitely bad news for them. If they can use this new painkiller without this potentially terrible problem, it seems like a great development.
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