Electrical Stimulation of Brain Releases Powerful, Opiate-Like Painkiller

Researchers have used electricity on certain regions in the brain of a patient with chronic, severe facial pain to release an opiate-like substance that’s considered one of the body’s most powerful painkillers. Their findings expand on prior work done at the University of Michigan, Harvard University and the City University of New York, where researchers delivered electricity through sensors on the skulls of chronic migraine patients, and found a decrease in the intensity and pain of their headache attacks. However, they couldn’t completely explain how or why.

The current study helps explain what happens in the brain that decreases pain during the brief sessions of electricity, according to Alexandre DaSilva, assistant professor of biologic and materials sciences at the U-M School of Dentistry and director of the school’s Headache & Orofacial Pain Effort Lab. For more information, click here to read the full release.