See friends this provocative release from N.Y. Times : By JOHN O'NEIL W hat good is pain? Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco think that in the case of an inflamed joint, that ache may be the body's way of telling its most aggressive defenders, "Enough, already -- you're hurting me!" Dr. Holly Strausbaugh, a fellow at the N.I.H. Pain Center at the university, said that research by her team, published last week in the journal Nature Medicine, demonstrated one way pain plays an important role in regulating the body's inflammatory cycle. In that cycle, the body responds to injury or intruders by releasing an array of substances that fight infectious agents and speed healing by increasing blood flow. Swelling, mild fever and soreness are all signs that an inflammatory response has been set off. If unchecked, these defenses can cause serious harm to healthy tissue; that is what happens in chronic inflammatory diseases like arthritis. But how the defenders know when to ease up has remained a mystery. In 1995, researchers at the university found that the activation of pain nerves seemed to serve as a signal to reduce swelling, and Dr. Strausbaugh's team hoped to find out more about the biochemical mechanisms involved. They looked specifically at the link between pain and neutrophils, "little short-lived cells that pack a real wallop," in Dr. Strausbaugh's words, and are the body's first line of defense. Rats given an electrical impulse designed to simulate the firing of pain cells were found to have lower levels of neutrophils in inflamed joints. A second phase of the experiment found that the pain signals dampened the inflammatory response by inhibiting neutrophils' ability to release L-selectin, a substance that allows them to leave the bloodstream and enter an infected area. Dr. Strausbaugh says the new research underscores what a fine balance is needed in turning on and off the body's defenses. "Inflammation is a good thing when everything goes according to plan," she said. Part of the plan seems to be that pain cells, generally activated at the moment of trauma, subside during the initial stages of immune response before reasserting themselves. "It does seem like it takes a while for pain to develop," Dr. Strausbaugh said. "It's almost like the inflammation has to build up to a certain degree before fibers activate and say, 'That's enough.' " Those kinds of questions about timing may prove useful in improving pain management, she said. "Our thinking would be that people with less pain would be getting more neutrophils into the site," Dr. Strausbaugh said. Without the normal initial pain, the body's most aggressive defenders responded full force, with a positive result in the short term; but damage to healthy tissue seems likely to rise if the mechanisms to moderate such all-out assaults are held in check too long. Dr. Strausbaugh conceded that people will always think of pain "in a very negative way." But she speculated that understanding its purpose could make it easier to bear. And just as other recent work has shown that people with mild fevers might be better off not taking analgesics to suppress it, she said, it may be that in a few years doctors may be telling patients that a little pain can be good for them. -- Cheers , +----| Joao Paulo de Carvalho |------ + | [log in to unmask] | +--------| Salvador-Bahia-Brazil |------+