By Claudia Sommer and Frank Birklein | January 1, 2012

Not all inflammation leads to pain. Despite widespread infection followed by fever, colds rarely cause pain. But when some cytokines and certain immune cells are active near pain-sensing nerves, they trigger receptors that convey pain sensations to the brain. Resolvins are naturally produced part-way into an inflammatory reaction, and help diminish inflammation as well as pain. Chronic pain is a complicated disorder that can be influenced as much by mood and personal experience as it can by persistent inflammation or unresolved pain. In some cases when pain is constantly relayed through the peripheral nerves to the central nervous system, a sort of imprint or pain memory is created, leading to chronic pain. Resolvins can dampen the nerve transmission that leads to chronic pain by acting both at the peripheral nerve and in the spine.

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