• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, September 1, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Scientists discover powerful potential pain reliever

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
August 16, 2017
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

Credit: Stephen Martin

A team of scientists led by chemists Stephen Martin and James Sahn at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered what they say is a powerful pain reliever that acts on a previously unknown pain pathway. The synthetic compound, known as UKH-1114, is as effective at relieving neuropathic pain in injured mice as a drug widely used for pain relief called gabapentin, but it works at a much lower dose, with longer duration of action.

If the researchers can demonstrate that the drug is safe, effective and nonaddictive in humans — a process that typically takes years — the discovery could be instrumental in addressing one of today's biggest public health challenges: the opioid abuse epidemic.

Nearly a third of Americans suffer from chronic pain, yet the most effective pain relievers — opioids — are addictive and often require increased dosing to maintain efficacy. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 2 million people in the U.S. suffer from addiction to prescription opioid pain relievers. Alternatives to opioids have their own drawbacks — for example, gabapentin (sold as Neurontin) can cause cognitive impairment in certain individuals.

"This opens the door to having a new treatment for neuropathic pain that is not an opioid," said Martin, a professor and the M. June and J. Virgil Waggoner Regents Chair in Chemistry. "And that has huge implications."

The pain drug they found binds to a receptor on cells throughout the central nervous system called the sigma 2 receptor. Although it was discovered 25 years ago, scientists still did not know what sigma 2 did until now.

Theodore Price, associate professor of neuroscience at The University of Texas at Dallas and a leading expert on chronic pain, tested UKH-1114 on mice with nerve damage and found that it alleviated pain as well as gabapentin did, but at a much lower dose (one-sixth as much) and was effective much longer (lasting for a couple of days, compared with 4 to 6 hours). This research is the first to demonstrate that the sigma 2 receptor may be a target for treating neuropathic pain.

Results are published in the Aug. 18 print edition of the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience. An earlier paper, published online on May 28 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, described the molecular cloning and identification of the sigma 2 receptor.

The researchers have filed patent applications on the new compound.

Neuropathic pain, or chronic pain, is caused when nerves in the central nervous system are damaged. Among other things, it can result from chemotherapy, diabetes and injuries to the brain or spinal cord.

Much work remains to be done before UKH-1114 can enter the market. More studies are needed to demonstrate safety, efficacy and oral bioavailability. In the meantime, the scientists are working to understand, on a fundamental level, how activating the sigma 2 receptor relieves neuropathic pain.

Still, Martin and Sahn are excited by the compelling results from the mouse model.

"We started out just working on fundamental chemistry in the lab," said Sahn, a research scientist in the Department of Chemistry. "But now we see the possibility that our discoveries could improve the quality of people's lives. That is very satisfying."

###

Media Contact

Marc Airhart
[email protected]
512-232-1066
@UTAustin

http://www.utexas.edu

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.7b00200

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Unraveling Odorant Proteins in Kissing Bugs

September 1, 2025

Drumming in Mongolian Gerbils: Context or Arousal?

September 1, 2025

Seasonal Brain Shrinkage in Shrews Caused by Water Loss, Not Cell Death

September 1, 2025

Lower IGF1 Levels in Preeclampsia Affect Trophoblasts

September 1, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    153 shares
    Share 61 Tweet 38
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    143 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    117 shares
    Share 47 Tweet 29
  • Do people and monkeys see colors the same way?

    112 shares
    Share 45 Tweet 28

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Tailored Risk Messages Show No Impact on Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates

New Predictive Model for Postpartum Hemorrhage in Cesarean Cases

Novel ADC Targets Fucosyl-GM1 in Lung Cancer

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.