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SALT LAKE CITY -- One set of twins and a bucket of ice water may change how scientists understand the often mysterious world of pain.
When you're hurting, over-the-counter to prescription drugs offer relief, but all can have troubling side effects. Certain analgesics are also addictive and easily abused.
Scientists have embarked upon a three-year study. They want to understand how to maximize pain relief while minimizing problems. To do this, they've turned to a special group of volunteers.
Joanne Harris and Jeanne Schwab are identical twins, born from a single fertilized egg that split in two, leaving them with nearly identical DNA.
"We do things together. We bounce things off of each other; just very close," Joanne said.
"I can anticipate what she's thinking about, and she can do the same," Jeanne said.
But are Jeanne and Joanne identical enough in how they feel pain and respond to painkillers? They're in a unique position to help scientists find out how much pain is nature and how much nurture.
Dr. Martin Angst of Stanford and Dr. Gary Swan of SRI International are part of the federally-funded research. The study will look at 125 pairs of twins to see how they react to a certain painkiller.
But don't worry. The participants won't be tortured just to create pain. Angst, with the help of lab tech Nick Phillips, demonstrated the study for us. "This is the mouse. I can use to cancel at any point in time what Nick is going to do to me here," he explained.
First, Nick applied a probe to the doctor's forearm. That slowly heated up. When it got too hot, Angst clicked the mouse button to turn it off.
In a second experiment, Angst plunged his hand into ice water as Nick timed how long he kept it there.
The results will be documented and the experiments then repeated, as the twins get a painkiller. If twins respond the same, genetics may play the bigger role.
Researchers are looking for both identical and non-identical, or fraternal twins. Fraternal twins share less DNA. "That enables us to compare how they are similar and how they are different," Angst said.
The ultimate goal is to help scientists develop more targeted and effective pain medications, and to identify who's at risk for addiction.
E-mail: drkim@ksl.com
