Brighter prospects for chronic pain

The potential of light as a noninvasive, highly focused alternative to pain medication was made more apparent thanks to new research. Optogenetics is a growing field of research with a wide variety of applications. In this case the activity of pain-signaling neurons was reduced in a localized part of a mouse’s body, the hind paw, and the duration of the effect could easily be controlled by the amount of time the light was applied. The precision of this technique underlines potential advantages for use in humans.