March 15, 2019

[Using PET Imaging] Researchers find way to blunt pain's emotional component

The researchers used small animal positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to assess the activity of kappa opioid receptors in the animals’ brains, and were able to demonstrate that when rats were in pain, their kappa opioid receptors were very active in a part of the brain called nucleus accumbens, which is linked to emotion. {read more here}