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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Determining heat and mechanical pain threshold in inflamed skin of human subjects
Published on: January 14, 2009
Taking the sting out of pain
1Department of Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine and Intensive Care, Imperial College London, London, UK. i.nagy@ic.ac.uk
Abstract:
While the role of the brain kallikrein-kinin system in the development of various pathological processes, such as oedema formation following brain injury or induction of central hypertonia has generated major interest, the possible role of this system in nociceptive processing has received little attention. In their present paper, Mortari et al. (2007) show that bradykinin B2 receptor activation in the brain by the bradykinin analogue, Thr(6)-bradykinin, isolated from the venom of the social wasp, Polybia occidentalis potently reduces acute, noxious heat-evoked reflex responses in naive rats. The unknown underlying mechanism of this powerful antinociceptive effect reminds us that the supraspinal antinociceptive system is still a "black box" in many aspects and awaits thorough investigation.
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