Some of the specific receptors located in our skin, joints, and other internal organs are responsible for sensing the painful stimuli in our bodies. Receptive signals are relayed by these specialized nerve fibers relay which are generated at the periphery of the brain. Here the pain turns in to conscious stage. Hanns Ulrich Zeilhofer, Professor at the ‘Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences’ at ETH Zurich, and at the ‘Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology’ of the ‘University of Zurich’.
The spinal cord is placed at such a position that works as a pain filter. It assures that the pain is not felt just by feeble stimuli like touching. The ‘inhibitory nerve cells’ that are located in the spinal dorsal horn perform this function. The spinal dorsal horn releases the’ molecule-amino butyric acid (GABA)’at the points of contacts between the specialized nerve cells. It is also called the “synapses”.GABA subsequently causes activation in the chloride channels over these cells and these nerve cells then start relaying the ‘pain signals’ to the brain.
