Preclinical research from McGill University has found that nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system—and that the effects are different in males and females.
This new understanding could eventually help create better, more personalized treatments for chronic pain.
Nerve injuries are common and can happen due to stretching, pressure, or cuts. These injuries often lead to chronic pain. Normally, the immune system helps heal the injured area. But the study revealed that nerve damage may also throw the entire immune system off balance.
Researchers analyzed blood from mice after a nerve injury and saw signs of widespread inflammation across the body. In male mice, inflammation markers increased and stayed high. Surprisingly, female mice didn’t show the same immune reaction—those inflammation markers didn’t rise at all.
However, when researchers took blood from injured male and female mice and transferred it to healthy mice, both groups of healthy mice developed increased sensitivity to pain. This showed that something in the blood was spreading pain throughout the body, but in different ways depending on the sex of the donor.
“That means whatever is causing pain in females is working through a completely different biological pathway that we don’t yet understand,” said co-author Jeffrey Mogil, E.P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies at McGill.
Lead author Sam Zhou, a Ph.D. student at McGill, added, “By understanding how men and women react differently to nerve injuries, we can work toward more personalized and effective treatments for chronic pain.”
This research also has broader health implications. It suggests that nerve injuries might not just cause local pain but may lead to long-term changes in the immune system. These changes could raise the risk of other chronic conditions, such as anxiety and depression.
Dr. Ji Zhang, the study’s senior author, emphasized the importance of recognizing how a localized nerve injury can impact the whole body. “Men and women may respond differently,” he said, highlighting the need for sex-specific approaches in pain management.
The study, published in the journal Neurobiology of Pain, underscores the need for further research into how pain spreads and persists in the body, especially across sexes. This knowledge could eventually help doctors offer more targeted treatments for chronic pain and improve quality of life for patients suffering from nerve damage.
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