A History of Pain Research

Abstract

Useful analgesic plant products have been known since antiquity. In recent times, the cell and molecular basis of damage detection and its complex relationship to pain perception have been explored in detail. A range of technical advances have given us considerable new knowledge about both the peripheral aspects of pain pathways and damage transduction as well as central mechanisms of pain modulation. Electrophysiology, imaging, genetic manipulation of animal models of pain, the role of the immune system, and genetic studies of human pain states have all provided new information. Remarkably, despite these advances, we are still uncertain about the locus of pain perception, while the development of new small-molecule analgesic drugs has had almost no success. This article summarizes the history of pain research and discusses present activities together with potential future routes to pain treatment.