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When a woman and a man both sustain injuries to their pain-generating nerves, only the woman produces a unique hormone that intensifies that pain. University of Calgary researchers report this discovery in the journal Neuron. Their study was in part triggered by a 2019 Canadian Pain Task Force report that verified the higher incidence of chronic pain in females versus males of every age including children.

Utilizing rodent animal models, their data showed that neuropathic pain, pain out of proportion to a harmful stimulus, is mediated by pannexin1 microglial and T cells channels in both men and women. In females, nerve injury leads to activation of T cells and the hormone leptin which potentiates pain. In males, the injury leads to release of a vascular endothelial growth factor from microglial cells and this VEGF blocks pain transmission.

Discovery of this gender-dependent generation of chronic pain could well lead to strategies for blocking pannexin1 channels for both males and females as well as neutralizing the effects of leptin-magnified pain in females.

https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(25)00009-1?_returnURL=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0896627325000091?showall=true

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/03/250317160418.htm

#pain #men #women #neuropathic #pannexin1 #leptin #vegf

Why Women Experience More Pain Than Men

Dr. Howard Smith Reports