St. Louis researchers studying mice said they have found key factors in the body that could lead to making better pain-reducing drugs. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, led by associate professor Dr. Robert Gereau, studied mice that were missing a specific potassium gene that regulates pain messages sent from the spinal cord to the brain. The research advances a previous Harvard University study and will be published Thursday in the journal Neuron. Mice without the so-called Kv4.2 gene were more sensitive to pain than normal mice, the study showed. Researchers said pain medication could target Kv4.2 in humans.
