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American molecular biologists from the University of St. Louis managed to modify the neurons of the pain center of the experimental mouse in order to turning off pain with light. In perspective they plan to create a new way to anesthetize a living organism without the use of anesthesia and drugs.
As one of the participants in this experiment says Michael Bruchas (Michael Brujas), the main difficulty was the separation the numerous functions of opioid receptors and the isolation of precisely those who control pain and who are responsible for vision. Following the stage is the “bonding” of the opioid receptors, which are responsible for pain, with those that help animals see the light. The third stage is connecting to the brain an ultra-thin LED that turns on, to for example, when a mouse enters a room. After that it was already possible with using the light stream to turn the center of pain on and off, or to manipulate it somehow differently.
Since all this has been done so far with the experimental mouse, it is precisely this rodent demonstrated that the reaction to light caused him almost the same analgesic effect as morphine or what another opiate.
As Brujas emphasized, further improving this technology that may be a little difficult to understand to an ordinary reader, his team will be able to develop for a person ways to influence the center of pain without any retroviruses. And this will allow not only, say, to perform operations without anesthesia, suppress severe pain without morphine, thereby not forming drug addiction in a patient, but even successfully to treat people for drug addiction.
