ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Pain in infancy alters response to stress, anxiety later in life

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate and environment, computers, engineering, health and medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.

Pain in infancy alters response to stress, anxiety later in life
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/dAG0Er9eLWQ/131030125540.htm
Oct 30th 2013, 16:55

Oct. 30, 2013 — Early life pain alters neural circuits in the brain that regulate stress, suggesting pain experienced by infants who often do not receive analgesics while undergoing tests and treatment in neonatal intensive care may permanently alter future responses to anxiety, stress and pain in adulthood, a research team led by Dr. Anne Murphy, associate director of the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State University, has discovered.

Share This:






An estimated 12 percent of live births in the U.S. are considered premature, researchers said. These infants often spend an average of 25 days in neonatal intensive care, where they endure 10-to-18 painful and inflammatory procedures each day, including insertion of feeding tubes and intravenous lines, intubation and repeated heel lance. Despite evidence that pain and stress circuitry in the brain are established and functional in preterm infants, about 65 percent of these procedures are performed without benefit of analgesia. Some clinical studies suggest early life pain has an immediate and long-term impact on responses to stress- and anxiety-provoking events.
The Georgia State study examined whether a single painful inflammatory procedure performed on male and female rat pups on the day of birth alters specific brain receptors that affect behavioral sensitivity to stress, anxiety and pain in adulthood. The findings demonstrated that such an experience is associated with site-specific changes in the brain that regulate how the pups responded to stressful situations. Alterations in how these receptors function have also been associated with mood disorders.
The study findings mirror what is now being reported clinically. Children who experienced unresolved pain following birth show reduced responsiveness to pain and stress.
"While a dampened response to painful and stressful situations may seem advantageous at first, the ability to respond appropriately to a potentially harmful stimulus is necessary in the long term," Dr. Murphy said.
"The fact that less than 35 percent of infants undergoing painful and invasive procedures receive any sort of pre- or post-operative pain relief needs to be re-evaluated in order to reduce physical and mental health complications associated with preterm birth."
The research team included scientists at Georgia State's Center for Behavioral Neuroscience and Yerkes National Primate Center. Results of the study were published in the most recent edition of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. The peer-reviewed journal article summarizes research led by Murphy and graduate student Nicole Victoria from Dr. Murphy's lab. Also involved were Dr. Larry Young (Yerkes Division of Behavioral Neuroscience & Psychiatric Disorders and the Center for Translational Social Neuroscience) and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Kiyoshi Inoue from the Young lab.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Georgia State University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:
Nicole C. Victoria, Kiyoshi Inoue, Larry J. Young, Anne Z. Murphy. Long-term dysregulation of brain corticotrophin and glucocorticoid receptors and stress reactivity by single early-life pain experience in male and female rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.08.013



Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Massacres That Matter - Part 1 - 'Responsibility To Protect' In Egypt, Libya And SyriaMassacres That Matter - Part 2 - The Media Response On Egypt, Libya And SyriaNational demonstration: No attack on Syria - Saturday 31 August, 12 noon, Temple Place, London, UK



You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at https://blogtrottr.com

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe here:
https://blogtrottr.com/unsubscribe/cz0/tSbHWJ