Electric stimulation of brain releases powerful, opiate-like painkiller

Electric stimulation of brain releases powerful, opiate-like painkiller.

Researchers used electricity on certain brain parts 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.

The findings expand on previous 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, the researchers then couldn’t completely explain how or why. The current findings help explain what happens in the brain that decreases pain during the brief sessions of electricity.