A PAINFUL ADDICTION A new study published in SCIENCE from Dr. Taylor’s lab revealed that inflammation or injury causes μ-opioid receptors (MOR) to become constitutively active for months. This prevents chronic pain, but at the expense of cellular and physical dependence on endogenous MOR signaling...

Biomarkers identify nerve cell bodies that provide information interpreted as pain to higher brain centers in studies performed by the Westlund High lab. The dorsal root ganglia neurons of the lumbar spinal cord shown are labeled for the peptide calcitonin gene related protein (red) and IB4, a non-...