Endothelin receptor may play role in sickle cell pain

Thursday, September 10, 2009 - 11:49 in Health & Medicine

Agonizing physical pain, known as vaso-occlusive pain, can afflict children who have sickle cell disease (SCD). In some cases infants as young as two months of age suffer vaso-occlusive pain so severe that opiate medications and hospitalizations are their only relief. Researchers believe vaso-occlusion is caused by a blockage of the blood vessels that occurs when sickle shaped red cells attempt to pass through the round blood vessels. How vaso-occulsion leads to pain, and its impact on males and females are still unknown. A University of South Carolina research team suggests that a naturally occurring chemical in the body, endothelin (ET), may play a role.

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