Neanderthals may have had a lower threshold for pain
People who inherited a special ion channel from Neanderthals experience
more pain

Date:
July 23, 2020
Source:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Summary:
Nerve cells have a special ion channel that has a key role in
starting the electrical impulse that signals pain and is sent
to the brain. New research finds that people who inherited the
Neanderthal variant of this ion channel experience more pain.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== [Depiction of early | Credit: (c) Gorodenkoff / stock.adobe.com] Depiction
of early humans, photo concept (stock image).

Credit: (c) Gorodenkoff / stock.adobe.com [Depiction of early | Credit:
(c) Gorodenkoff / stock.adobe.com] Depiction of early humans, photo
concept (stock image).

Credit: (c) Gorodenkoff / stock.adobe.com Close Pain is mediated through specialized nerve cells that are activated when potentially harmful
things affect various parts of our bodies. These nerve cells have a
special ion channel that has a key role in starting the electrical
impulse that signals pain and is sent to the brain. According to a new
study, people who inherited the Neanderthal variant of this ion channel experience more pain.


==========================================================================
As several Neanderthal genomes of high quality are now available
researchers can identify genetic changes that were present in many or all Neanderthals, investigate their physiological effects and look into their consequences when they occur in people today. Looking into one gene that carries such changes, Hugo Zeberg, Svante Pa"a"bo and colleagues found
that some people, especially from central and south America but also in
Europe, have inherited a Neanderthal variant of a gene that encodes an
ion channel that initiates the sensation of pain.

By using data from a huge population study in the UK, the authors show
that people in the UK who carry the Neanderthal variant of the ion channel experience more pain. "The biggest factor for how much pain people report
is their age. But carrying the Neanderthal variant of the ion channel
makes you experience more pain similar to if you were eight years older,"
says lead author Hugo Zeberg, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Karolinska Institutet. "The Neanderthal
variant of the ion channel carries three amino acid differences to
the common, 'modern' variant," explains Zeberg. "While single amino
acid substitutions do not affect the function of the ion channel, the
full Neanderthal variant carrying three amino acid substitutions leads
to heightened pain sensitivity in present-day people." On a molecular
level, the Neanderthal ion channel is more easily activated which may
explain why people who inherited it have a lowered pain threshold.

"Whether Neanderthals experienced more pain is difficult to say because
pain is also modulated both in the spinal cord and in the brain," says
Pa"a"bo. "But this work shows that their threshold for initiating pain
impulses was lower than in most present-day humans."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Max_Planck_Institute_for_Evolutionary_Anthropology. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Hugo Zeberg, Michael Dannemann, Kristoffer Sahlholm, Kristin Tsuo,
Tomislav Maricic, Victor Wiebe, Wulf Hevers, Hugh P.C. Robinson,
Janet Kelso, Svante Pa"a"bo. A Neanderthal Sodium Channel Increases
Pain Sensitivity in Present-Day Humans. Current Biology, 2020;
DOI: 10.1016/ j.cub.2020.06.045 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723115900.htm

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