Different peoples of the world have a lot of expressions and sayings about the sensations of another person: “I feel your pain, friend,” “the mother always feels when her child is in danger,” and many others. But does all this refer to metaphysical things, or can we really feel the pain of another person "on our own skin"? A recent study by scientists from the University of Oregon suggests that this is quite real.
A group of scientists investigated the effect of increased pain sensitivity as one of the symptoms of prolonged exposure to alcohol. Naturally, mice took part in the experiment. The rodents were divided into two control groups: the first one drank alcohol or water, and the second drank only water. The sensitivity of each group of mice was measured by irritating the paws and tail with a special brush, or by placing the tail in hot water.
When the mice were in the same room, no differences in animal behavior were observed. But when the rodents were carried to different rooms, the most interesting thing began. Mice experiencing "withdrawal" after being deprived of alcohol began to feel more pain than mice without alcohol. Then the mice were injected with substances that cause inflammation. In the control group of mice from another room, pain sensitivity increased by 68%. In addition, the scientists found that this was not the cause of stress. In the course of further experiments, it turned out that the mice felt the pain of their relatives after completely getting rid of the "withdrawal syndrome". In order to check whether the increased sensitivity to pain was associated with certain odors, the scientists completely cleansed the cells of both groups, while the dependence of the two groups on each other remained.
At the moment, it remains unclear whether such a connection really exists in humans, but scientists plan to conduct a number of tests to identify the connection in rodents, as well as the presence or absence of this connection in humans.
VLADIMIR KUZNETSOV