'Mint' pain killer takes leaf out of ancient medical texts

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Public release date: 21-Aug-2006

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-08/uoe-pk082106.php

Contact: Menzies

.Menzies@...

44-

University of Edinburgh

'Mint' pain killer takes leaf out of ancient medical texts

A new synthetic treatment inspired by ancient Greek and Chinese remedies

could offer pain relief to millions of patients with arthritis and nerve

damage, a new University of Edinburgh study suggests.

The Greek scholar Hippocrates treated sprains, joint pains and

inflammation by cooling the skin, and traditional Chinese remedies used

mint oil to the same end. Now scientists have discovered that cooling

chemicals which have the same properties as mint oil have a dramatic

pain-killing effect when applied in small doses to the skin. Unlike

conventional pain killers, these compounds are likely to have minimal

toxic side-effects, especially because they are applied externally to

the skin. This should mean they are ideal for chronic pain patients for

whom conventional pain killers often do not work.

The Edinburgh study sets out exactly how the 'mint oil' compounds (and

related more powerful chemicals) work. They act through a recently

discovered receptor (a protein which is capable of binding with these

chemicals) which is found in a small percentage of nerve cells in the

human skin. The scientists have found that when this receptor, called

TRPM8, is activated by the cooling chemicals or cool temperatures, it

inhibits the 'pain messages' being sent from the locality of the pain to

the brain. Thus, the new treatment makes good use of the body's own

mechanisms for killing pain.

The findings would doubtless have been of interest to Hippocrates, the

founding father of modern medicine. Writing in the fifth century BC, in

chapter 5 of his classic text, Aphorisms, he stated: " Swellings and

pains in the joints, ulceration, those of a gouty nature, and sprains,

are generally improved by a copious affusion of cold water, which

reduces the swelling, and removes the pain; for a moderate degree of

numbness removes pain. "

Professor Fleetwood-, who jointly led the study with Dr Rory

, says:

" This discovery of the pain-relieving properties of mint oil and related

compounds has great potential for alleviating the suffering of millions

of chronic pain patients, including those with arthritis or those who

have had nerve damage or spinal injury following major accidents.

Conventional painkillers such as morphine are often ineffective in cases

of chronic pain, and simply lowering the temperature of the skin is too

inexact. "

" Our discovery means that patients can be given low doses of a powerful

pain killer, delivered through the skin, without side effects. We hope

clinical trials on the compounds will begin within the year. "

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The research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical

Research Council, and its findings appear in the journal, Current Biology.

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