First detection of signs of inflammation in the brain of patients with chronic pain Activation of certain brain cells has now been clearly observed, associated with pain, in humans. A small human brain imaging study of people suffering from chronic back pain revealed for the first time the presence of elevated levels of a protein associated with inflammation in regions of the brain known to be involved in the transmission of pain. The results, which were published Monday in the journal Brain , may open the way to new treatments for chronic pain. Marco Loggia and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have shown that the protein involved - translocator protein (TSPO ) - reaches high levels in structures of the brain that participate in pain transmission, and more precisely , in the glial cells of these structures. Glial cells are cells present throughout the nervous system, but they are not neurons. They are responsible, among other things, for forming the myelin she...