#i am curious on the choice of male rats tho

[thespacesay]

an interesting study overall as someone with fibromyalgia! the paper itself is quite a bit beyond my biology level, but I can admit to a few major concerns in labeling this useful on a human level so far:

obviously, mice studies cannot prove the direct correlation in humans, even though they are often an ideal subject for more... I suppose, proof of concept? It's certainly interesting, but in general mice studies cannot be extrapolated to humans, especially when unknown factors (in this case, fibromyalgia itself) are in play.

I noted from the linked paper that the mice studied were explicitly all male. I'm curious how that could have changed things, since in my personal research (again, not a bio/medical person, though I am in STEM) I've seen a consistent note that fibromyalgia is - currently for reasons not understood - quite a bit more common in women. on a personal note, often when studies do include men, I've noticed that those studies seem to regularly be the odd result out on otherwise consistent trends.

this study is also quite explicit in saying "hey, we're just looking at pain, don't extrapolate this to fibromyalgia as a whole yet".

so! interesting read, curious to see what future research will say, but I'm not holding out hope that it's groundbreaking yet.

Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic, widespread, and debilitating pain, thought to be triggered by a process known as central sensitization. This is where the body’s central nervous system mistakenly amplifies nerve signals passing through the brain and spinal cord, sensitizing the person to more pain in a vicious feedback loop.

But our understanding of the disease, which affects mostly women, is rapidly shifting with long overdue research, and studies have pointed toward changes in the peripheral or outer nervous system also.

A 2021 study introduced antibodies from people with fibromyalgia into mice, thereby increasing the test animals’ sensitivity to pain. The investigation’s findings made a strong case for the syndrome operating as an autoimmune disorder – or at least one where immune cells play a key role.

“Growing evidence demonstrates an intricate bidirectional interaction between immune cells and sensory neurons,” writes the research team, led by molecular and cell biologist Sara Caxaria from the Queen Mary University of London.

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