Kyudai News No26 page 10/28

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Kyudai News No26

Hadn’t any other researchersworked on it up to that point?Research into neuropathic pain wasbeing carried out worldwide. However,the pain comes from the nerves, sostudies were focusing on the nervecells. Although various theories hademerged, they were all incomplete, sonone hit the mark.So you set to work after formulatinga hypothesis from a completelydifferent perspective?No, it was actually a product of chance.Our research group includedresearchers who were studying painand researchers who were studyingmicroglial cells called immune cells inthe brain and spine. Actually, weweren’t studying microglia because wewanted to; rather, it was research thatwe were doing reluctantly, just becausewe had been told to do it by Dr.Shinichi Kohsaka (currently DirectorGeneral of the National Institute ofNeuroscience, National Center ofNeurology and Psychiatry), a seniorresearch colleague of mine .However, one day, Dr. Makoto Tsuda(currently Professor in the Departmentof Life Innovation, Faculty ofPharmaceutical Sciences, KyushuUniversity) reported that microgliawere activated in the spines of animalmodels of neuropathic pain. That’s howpain and microglia, which we had beenstudying separately, came to be linked.I got goosebumps when I saw the datain the report. I was impressed by thisincredible discovery. After a great dealof intensive research, we reported ourfindings in Nature in 2003. Since then,studies have progressed worldwide andthe relationship between pain andmicroglia has become a major researchtrend.I want to use drugs to savepeople from the destructionof their personality by painYou said before that there is “goodpain” and “bad pain.”“Good pain” functions as the body’swarning system, telling us to get awayfrom something dangerous or thelocation of a disease. However,neuropathic pain emerges after awound has healed. Although thewound has healed completely and thereappears to be nothing whatsoeverwrong on the surface, the areaconcerned hurts for some reason. Thisis “bad pain,” which has nophysiological significance, so it shouldbe controlled.For someone struggling with adisease, that kind of pain isparticularly debilitating, isn’t it?Absolutely. After all, even a simpletoothache can make you feel worsethan you’ve ever felt before .I’ve heard that even people who’veattained a certain standing in societyand are well-respected by others endup utterly broken by the dreadful painexperienced in the terminal phase ofcancer. I myself have a low tolerancefor pain, so I hate the thought of losingmy personality due to agonizing painat the end of my life. I feel that I tooneed this kind of drug in order toenable me to reach my final chapter asKazuhide Inoue.I believe that Kyushu University is doing the most advancedwork in the field of pain in the whole of Japan.9 Kyudai News No.26