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Get latest articles and stories on Health at LatestLY. The classic view of pain is that it protects by detecting and signalling the presence of harmful agents, but new research shows pain can shield the gut more directly. Health News | Study Finds Unexpected Protective Properties of Pain.
The classic view of pain is that it protects by detecting and signalling the presence of harmful agents, but new research shows pain can shield the gut more directly.
Pain has been long recognized as one of evolution's most reliable tools to detect the presence of harm and signal that something is wrong -; an alert system that tells us to pause and pay attention to our bodies.
Pain neurons engage in direct cross-talk with goblet cells, or mucus-containing cells within the gut. During states of inflammation, pain cells stimulate goblet cells to release more mucus. Findings suggest the nervous system plays a key role in gut barrier maintenance and triggers protective mechanisms during periods of inflammation.
Anthrax has a scary reputation. Widely known to cause serious lung infections in humans and unsightly, albeit painless, skin lesions in livestock and people, the anthrax bacterium has even been used as a weapon of terror.