An airbag for perceiving pain: Basic mechanisms governing the perception of pain discovered

An airbag for perceiving pain: Basic mechanisms governing the perception of pain discovered: Everyone knows how it feels to bite into a hot chili pepper or burn the roof of one’s mouth with a hot drink. This activates nerve cells that relay the potential threat to the brain, which then causes the person in question to perceive pain. Over 14 years ago, researchers discovered the first receptor molecule that reacts to heat as well as to capsaicin, the active substance in chili extracts. At the time it was believed that science had come a big step closer to understanding the emergence of pain and its treatment with medicine. The disappointment was great when it was found several years later that laboratory mice from whom the gene of this receptor had been artificially removed still perceived pain. Despite repeated attempts to explain the causes of this observation, it has remained a mystery until now. Researchers have now deciphered basic mechanisms governing the perception of pain.