Methylation potential and perception of pain

Methylation potential and perception of pain.

The study below found correlation between methylation of the promoter region of TRPA1 gene and pain threshold.

In plain English: the lower the methylation potential, the higher sensitivity to pain.

Results We found CpG-628 to be correlated with mechanical pain threshold and CpG-411 to be correlated with mechanical pain threshold in female volunteers, i.e., higher methylation levels lead to higher pain thresholds. A novel finding is that methylation levels were significantly different between patients with no and severe levels of childhood trauma. CpG methylation also correlated with psychometric assessment of pain and pain levels rated on a visual analog scale. (R1)

I will also remind that TRPA1 receptors react to oxidized fatty acids in the cell membrane. That is, when oxidative stress is very high and fatty acids from phospholipids get oxidized at higher rate than they can be repaired, the oxidized fatty acids cause pain by triggering TRPA1 receptors.