Publication date: 14/03/16
ThemesNews
Oxytocin plays a central role in pain modulation, but its release process had remained unknown so far.
An international research team including French researchers from the CRNS, Inserm and the University of Strasbourg identified a new pain control centre in the hypothalamus. It is composed of around 30 neurons coordinating oxytocin release in the blood and spinal cord, which reduces the pain sensation. The results of this research work open up prospects for treating pathological pain. They were published in the neuroscience journal Neuron on 3 March 2016.
