TheBiologySpace.BioBlog

Reading this i’m reminded of psychology, when we studied the brain. Personally, i feel like there are too many confounding variables that haven’t been addressed (or just merely weren’t stated) to base many conclusions. It seems to discount the subjectivity of pain thresholds, which can vary from individual to individual; it discounts also, the gate-control theory of pain, as well as possible differences in perception of pain in rats versus humans. That being said, it is and interesting read, and it also leads me to wonder about possible alternatives: possibly capsaicin?

Opiate becomes tremendously addictive to people for the reason that it will diminish severe pain as in next to no time as they consume the drug. Moreover, when one intakes artificial opiates, it puzzles the central nervous which in turn lessen the natural production of painkillers, called endorphins, within the body. Given that endorphins are no longer formed by the body as you would expect because it is instead receiving opiates, this causes the person to amplify their infatuation to the drug because that is now the only way to alleviate the ache for them.

I’m not sure why that is, but I do know why that’s important. As your body gets used to a drug, it takes more to get the same effect. So when you take the drug for an extended period of time, you will most likely overdose.

Alright then, I never read further down. I guess the reason for needing more drugs are due most likely to a lack of opioid receptors. Or mabye it girls have the normal amount and guys have excessive. Who knows?

This is very significant in that hopefully now more research will be put towards finding alternative medicines independent of opioid receptors. Because females require more of the drug for the same relief, they are more prone to addiction which could result in terrible decay and possibly death.

While addiction to prohibited drugs such as cocaine and marijuana is well known through out the globe, there are millions of people clandestinely abusing and seriously addicted to hydrocodone. In fact, hydrocodone is conceivably the most extensively abused prescription drug in the United States of America and sales and production of hydrocodone have been mounting considerably in the past decade. Hydrocodone produces an initial feeling of euphoria which sways the person to keep taking the alluring drug. Continual use of synthetic opiate derivatives leads to the body’s rising tolerance towards the drug. Thus elevated doses have to be taken to attain the original result.

This work that the GSU researchers performed can help us understand pain relief and the seeming inequity that women face in finding relief from opiate compounds in that it proved that estrogen has a say in the matter and affects the effectiveness of opiate compounds. It’s very possible that this work could be used to help healthcare professionals treat addiction more effectively but might obviously have a few setbacks when messing with hormone levels. This work could also very possibly be used to help drive the development of alternative analgesics.

With this information, one could argue that the distinct lack of opioid receptors in a certain part of the female brain as compared to the male brain is God’s way of enforcing his punishment of making childbirth more painful. And this strikes the question is it possible for females to feel more pain than males? It would only make sense since they have less pain relieving receptors when compared to males.

This information helps reinforce my statement before of the possibility of this being God’s way of enforcing his punishment of making childbirth more painful. The presence of estrogen definitely affects the efficacy of opiate compounds as analgesics and obviously females have more of it than males. Combined with this and the distinct lack of opioid receptors in a certain part of the female brain as compared to the male brain, females don’t have much working for them when dealing with pain.

The evidence the Georgia State researchers have found could very possibly link gender and opiate addiction but without more research you can’t say for sure. So this research has given a legitimate reason for more research to be performed and find definitive answers to possibly prevent future drug addictions and overdoses.

It is important to understand the difference between male and females relating to this because if not given the proper amount of drug, it could have ill effects on the person and possibly not even work which would make taking the drug pointless and make your liver do unnecessary work. Noticing these differences of males and females could lead to more important work like finding alternative analgesics that could help save lives from drug addictions.

So, if rats with higher levels of estrogen responded to the pain quicker, and if we apply the same effect to humans, would women on birth control, which raises the levels of estrogen in their bodies, respond to the pain quicker than regular women who also have a large amount of estrogen in them? If you’re a woman on birth control could you be more susceptible to pain?

it is important to know that this study hasn’t been performed on human beings.
Because of the ability for estrogen to work quickly on pain, women do not require the same amount of opiate receptors as low-estrogen secretion animals.

Although this is a great study and highly relevent, as I am watching my dad across the room recovering from surgery and currently on such pain relieving drugs, I wonder if it will ever be approved to be tested on humans, ethics has become a huge role in research.

I wonder if there is something to do with not only estrogen levels but also body composition as the body composition of males and females can differ greately. Estrogen doesn’t produce muscle while testosterone does and maybe the surrounding muscle of a surgery site is what gets more sore. I am just throwing ideas out there I have no idea if this is even a correct way of thinking.

I did a little look-up on poppies and found out that they have been cultivaed since the neolithic age. Thats crazy how just about every advanced civilization has used poppies for one reason or another. I don’t know if there were bigtime addicts back in the day, but our society seems to abuse this drug more.

Rats are a great test subject but scientists are going to have to get a lot more unethical if they want to reach any scientific breakthroughs. My hypothesis states that since females have fewer opiate receptors than males do they would have to take a greater dose of the drug to reach the desired high. this could lead to a stronger addiction and a higer death tole in females than males.

Maybe this gender difference is something to do with babies; think of this. If a guy gets whacked out on drugs, or even in the wild, on like, poppies, it’s not good for him. Obviously.
But if a female is carrying a baby and does drugs, or takes other odd stimulus medicine, then it’s not only bad for the woman, but the baby too.
This might be a natural advantage to a baby; by decreasing the mother’s addiction-chance. Once born, if a new born baby or even an adult eats poppies or drugs, it won’t AS effective as when the baby is in the womb.
Maybe.
More testing, obviously, would be required.But that’s my shot in dark.

Well I hit up some crucial google research and came across an article from the Department of Physiology at The Univirsity Of Maryland Medicine. Turns out they conducted a similar experiment to GSU and concluded that “estrogen and proestrogen supress the physiological responses to opiate peptides”. They concluded this by measuring the binding site of opiate receptors (noxolone) in the hypothalamic region (the hypothalamus is a tiny gland in the brain that controls the secretion of hormones throughout the body) and treating rats with estrogen. The estrogen ovariectomized the noxolone-binding sites (decreased its density) therefore not allowing opiates to bind with those sites, making estrogen a noncompeteative inhibitor because it alters the conformation of the enzyme. this research is insane!!

More research is going to have to be done on estrogen and opiate receptor sites if scientists believe that the continual use of opiates as a form of pain relief will solve the problem. I think Alternative forms of pain relief that do not have such strong dependancies will be more beneficial to the patients overall health and therefore should not be on the backburner of research.

It’s an interesting find that estrogen levels affect the effectiveness of pain relievers. This article is basically saying that it is easier for females to become addicted to drugs than it is for males because of the different amounts of estrogen. So more research should definitely be done to find alternative analgesics that don’t depend on opioid receptors in the brain.

This study only addressed male and female rats but didn’t mention anything about how it would affect the different age groups in male and female rats. I wonder if age plays any part in pain relief since the estrogen levels change during different times in a woman’s life cycle.

I agree with the Alan and Audria that the research conducted by GSU could be used by healthcare professionals to identify new pain relief medications that are independent of opioid receptors so that the pain killers will work equally as well on both men and women.

The research at GSU indicated that the amount of estrogen in rats affected the amount of time it took them to respond to pain. If that is true in humans, then doctors should also measure the estrogen levels of people and use it as an indicator to prescribe pain medicine to people.

I agree with BJ and Rebecca. I thought immediately that it would be unethical for scientists to conduct such an experiment on human beings. Although it is a good idea to pursue more research in this area, it seems difficult to understand all of the effects by only testing it on rats. However, there is no easy way to understand these opiate compounds without human testing.

After reading this section I began to wonder whether or not the levels of estrogen in the body can be altered. Rats with high levels of estrogen respond quickly to pain. Is it possible that the estrogen levels in the rats could be lowered in order to make them less susceptible to pain once morphine has been administered?

That is just weird how our bodies work and how males and females are so much alike yet so different in so many ways. I think that with some research on how this could work on humans, it would probably show very promising results, most likely the same as in lab tests with the rats but it would be interesting to see if there is any parrellels.

I think that this is an interesting discovery on how animals react differently to drugs depending on their different levels of estrogen. More in-depth research would show better and more promising results within this new study. I think that this is definitely something that should be studied more.

kelly, i didn’t really understand what you were trying to say with the whole baby thing. If the mother does the drugs then usually the baby is born with an addiction which would seem to lead to a higher chance of addiction later on in life. Where as if the mother doesn’t do drugs it has no effect on the baby other than whether its a boy or girl.
I think it’d be interesting to do this experiment on the human brain because it could lead to the fact that women are more likely to become addicted to drugs.

I agree with Rebecca that different body compositions have different differences in pain relief and also think that our different ways of think also plays a major role. For example Pain relievers like motrin are my best friend and I use them whenever I can whereas my dad couldn’t care less about taking any unless he was dying. This could possibly account for the fact that men and women think about pain in different ways, since women have greater brain activity in the emotion regions and men more in the analytic regions. Height, race, & weight also have a huge effect on this issue as well.

Like what alot of people said earlier about this study, it only applies to rats. It’s a good experiment nevertheless, however you can’t generalize from the results from just this experiment can be true for human beings. I believe that this experiment should be performed on people by the NIH standards to get the most accruate observations and results.

Gender inequality may not sound like a good thing, but when it comes to the prescription of medication, it is definitely a main factor in determining dosage. These dosages are the differences between regression and progression in an illness, and in some cases, essentially life and death.

One thing I find amazing about this drug, with a prescribed amount, is how it can bind to the opioid receptors of the brain and relieve pain without very serious brain damage. Also I thought it was a rumor that poppy seeds had codeine, apparently not. Interesting article.

So does this mean it takes more pain for guys to feel the same way females feel? For instance, if a guy scraped his knee, would the pain be equivalent or greater to females?

Nicole that is a really good question. I actually was thinking something like that when I was reading this paragraph. This would require a human experiment, but that’s an interesting thought. How much does birth control decrease the pain threshold?

I definitely think that this work will be used to drive the development of alternative analgesics which do not depend on opioid receptors in the brain. As Tyler mentioned in his blog, I think that Capsaicin (which does not depend on opioid receptors) can be used as pain medication for minor aches and pains. Apart from learning about how our bodies cope with pain, through this study, it is possible that we could learn about the gender gap which might exist in humans.

I also agree with the whole unethical issue that these scientists will face if they start testing on humans. But there could be an alternative method through which the scientists can study about the gender inequities in pain relief. Scientists could always do a case study when ethical issues prevent them from furthering the study. They could test non-addicted patients who need and have taken opiates (for example after a major surgery) and follow them up to see if they had become addicted. This way they can bypass the ethical hurdle.

I think that the results of this experiment could prove to be important and detrimental on the use of such painkillers and their perscriptions if the researchers figured out if humans had similar opiod receptor differences. Furthermore, finding out why estrogen affects pain reception could also lead to new drugs that might be more effective.

Can the faster rate of response in female rats be attributed to estrogen levels alone? I think there are too many confounding variables in the study to make a direct link between estrogen and rate of response. For instance, female animals are usually smaller, have smaller organs, and have a higher percentage of body fat than their male counterparts. There are other genetic and hormonal differences that could interfere with the accuracy of the conclusion made based on the results of the study alone such as the fact that men and women’s brains function differently.

Another interesting experiment would be to inject male rats with estrogen as well as an opiate to see if they had the same reaction.

i think chris brought up an interesting topic about how maybe male rats have an excessive amount of receptors. It would then signify that maybe males are hypersensitive to drugs and more like to become addicts rather than girls. How do scientist even know which is a normal amount of receptors on a male vs. female basis?

I think that the amount of receptors may be related to the number of nerves that respond to pain. If the ratio of pain receptors to nerves is the same then there might be other reasons that pain relief varies. Also, if all of the receptors can only handle so much of the drug then there would be a point where upping the dosage doesn’t do anything. Maybe those with fewer receptors have already reached this point. Plus it sounds like there are too many variables between each person and gender to truly judge what is causing the difference in pain relief, rather that there is a difference and that perscriptions may need to be adjusted to work affectively.

Drugs were quite used often back then. Even back at colonial times, drugs like these were by local general stores and there wa snothing about them being illegal. Painkillers are a great since they bind to the receptors in the brain and relieve pain. However too much usage of it is a bad thing as well.

If addiction counseling could be tailored to each gender maybe it would be quicker and not as intense, maybe all these years we have been treating addiction only thinking of one gender while the other suffers. I think that it is definetly worth researching how to help others struggling with addiction and also how the brain is affected after the treatment.

One word: COOL! Do all painkillers work this way? I always wanted to know how certain medicines can know where to go if my throat hurts, or my stomach but in reality it goes to the brain. I feel really slow but that is amazing. Are poppies the seeds that go in bread and are they the reason that sometimes you can fail a drug test? Thank you for that.

I agree with Andrea. I think that they are jumping the gun. The experiment makes sense, but I think overall with humans that this hypothesis could not work. There are too many variables that factor, not just one. It is interesting though if it were plausible. I agree with Camden as well on how estrogen can be tested and people could be treated better and more efficiently. I also would like to know if women on birth control are more likely to feel more pain.

This article brings to mind a common misconception that basically states that women are more easily hurt and not as tough as men. I know that this article is actually dealing with painkillers and not the pain itself but it makes me think that their is a connection. Anyways, it was interesting to read about this and a human trial would definitely shed some light on this matter.

We can only hope that further research will help us to advance in the research for this problem. Alternative medicines found for the women could help as mentioned by audria. I belive in finding an alternative medicine we could not only better the pain relief for women but possibly for me too. This research made by GSU can be used to help this further.

I find this interesting considering males are said to be more strong. Does this mean we can finally considered ourselves dominant? As listed by Alan it is true that only girls feel the pain of childbirth and maybe it is a way for men to catch the slack. I ask the same question of it is possible that woman actually feel more pain than males, and if so why does it have to be that way? I wonder if in hospitals they must issue larger amounts of medicine to the women in order to make up for the amount of pain we feel.

This is so interesting, i recently had heart surgery and was on so much medicine. I have always wondered how exactly everything worked. Kathryn brings up a very interesting question about the poppy seeds being the reason you fail drug test, it makes complete sense that they would cause it to be like that. I think painkillers are heaven sent when used right.

I have had a few surgeries, and I can say with experience that opiates have definitely been my friend before. It is seriously amazing how fast and hard they work, but they can be so dangerous if they aren’t used properly.

So males have less receptors than females. and high estrogen levels in rats responded quickly to pain. This conclusion is very important to the pharmaceutical area. Medicines can be further modified to match certain estrogen levels and also match to the receptors in males and females… I think in the future there will be more medicines that would have the same type of medicine but a certain type for men, and certain type for women.

A lot of us are forgetting to ask why this happens. I understand the statement relies on theory and rats are not humans. In the mean time, why do males have more chemical resistance to pain? I would say because of the hunter gatherer beginnings of human kind, but in all species? I am not so sure.

This study stands out from other studies dealing with opiate addiction because many of the earlier studies involved all male rats. Because hormone levels are known to affect many biological processes, including pain, female rats must be at the same hormonal profile to get meaningful results from experiments. Deciphering the precise hormonal stage of a rat relies on time-consuming experiments, and many researchers wished to avoid the hormone complication altogether by using males. To get the male rats and the female rats at the same hormonal profile, the scientists could inject the male rats with estrogen as Melyssa mentioned in her blog.

Its weird to think that the saying “mind over matter” can really apply to the way the human body works. I had never really thought about what goes on to make my pain go away when i take drugs such as asperin or tylenol. And to add to Kathryn Davis’s comment, it is said that if you eat too many poppie seeds you can test positive for opium, but you would have to eat A LOT of poppy seeds and its almost impossible.

I thought that this was interesting, i pretty sure it has something to do with the receptors, im not sure why women would have more or less, but I would assume its because of the difference in the male body and the female body.

This research could prove to be a major breakthrough in areas of addiction for both men and women. Although the research needs to be carried out further on humans, it opens our eyes to seemingly new ways of inequity faced by women. Health professionals could certainly use this knowledge and help people with addiction disorders and even go further to other such disorders.

there are probably a lot of reasons for why responses to drugs are different in girls and boys, but according to the research done on rats, the answer is levels of estrogen. This is very important since it provides a basis for the theory that guys could be addicted to drugs and other things faster than girls. Through this discovery, we can better treat cases of addiction.

Someone brought up the subject of psychology earlier in a post and I found it interesting that this new information could possibly turn around the way that clinical therapy is conducted, considering the biological with standings. It would be pretty insightful to review some documents from drug rehabs and figure a rough ratio of male addicts to female (if the information still stands for the human brain).

It would also be interesting to find out if morphine and other derivatives of the drug react the same way and opiate substance would. Or if the opiate receptors receive opiates more effectively.

I agree with Santoshi that alternative analgesics will be developed that don’t rely on the opiate receptors unless they somehow find a proper way to distinguish between male and female dosages. If there is a way to prevent drug addiction then steps toward that should definitely be taken, in regards to health professionals i think this research is very helpful to them establish standards for pain relievers.

I think that this study indirectly shows that males (because of the inferior number of opiate receptors on their brain) have a higher chance of becoming an addict compared to girls. However its also important to remember that this theory has not been tested on humans.

What could be the cause of the distinct lack of opiod receptors. I am just wondering if it could be because of specific genetic makeup or other factors that aren’t discovered yet. I believe these discoveries can lead to a global phenomenon.

Matt, I guess when a guy scrapes his knee then it wouldn’t be as painful if a girl scraped her knee at the same extent, because girls have more receptors in the brain I guess that detects pain

A lot can be learned from the shocking discovery of how women can become more addicted to opiate compounds because of the amount of receptors in the brain. According to the study, women rats who took the morphine had less potent effects compared to male rats. It could be caused because of different receptors in the brain or estrogen levels. I think that there are too many differences between male and female rats to narrow it down to one reason with the research performed.

Painkillers such as opiate compounds can be deadly, especially when in the wrong hands. Many young patients who have had surgery and given pain medications can easily become addicted. Deaths and young lives spiraling out of control should be enough incentive for scientists to develop alternative analgesics. These new developments will benefit our society very much.

i never knew painkillers’ components were found in poppies. these kinds of information are very interesting to me. but the coolest thing is how the hydrocodone works!

women may have more pain receptors in their brains than males do. this may be the reason why women feel cold faster than males even though, on average, they have more body fat percentage.

i think this information is quite intriguing. i wonder why estrogen speeds up the pain receipting process. it seems like the estrogen and testosterone levels in a person dealing with this type of research would be negligible…

I have a question: how is pain measured? I know with clinical medicine they have the “pain scale” from 1 to 10 but that is all relative to a person’s tolerance to pain. Is there a better way to measure pain, such as measuring spikes in certain parts of the brain via EEG?

This article is very interesting concerning gender inequity. Although the experiment shows a trend of increase in estrogen thus a decrease in opioid receptors, but how do other factors play into the mix?- Such as ethnicity and child development? Are rats a truely adequate simulation of the human brain? Is this experiment analogous to the human anatomy.

If the trend in rats are the same in humans, then this would be a breakthrough discovery. To apply this concept to treatment of drug addictions, then we would use this new knowledge to give estrogen to addicts in hope of lessening their receptors thus making them have less urges for the drug.

Yes, poppy seeds are the reason why sometimes people fail a drug test, its because they come from the same plant that makes opium, heroin, and morphine. That’s why you shouldn’t eat a lot of poppy seeds before taking a drug test!

This discovery could indeed help us treat addicts to certain opiates. Instead of treating every patient with the same treatment plan, a system that could be customized to one’s need. A plan that would work around and with someone’s estrogen level, and many other aspects.

Okay, I’m not an expert on painkillers, but if medicines such as Tylenol have the same synthetic opiate derivatives as those mentioned here, then this information might possibly have an effect on dosages put on the labels of these widespread drugs. Just like different amounts are suggested for children and adults, would different dosages be recommended for male and female?

During speech this week, we were debating the effects of marijuana. One thing I learned from the effects of such drugs is the way chemicals bind to sites in the brain to produce the “high” or happy feeling. But every brain is different. Some have a larger sight, and some don’t have any at all. This could very well be gender related. This could account for the reason of the lack of effect of the painkiller drugs.