Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DPa18dGjnAy/Ibuprofen and aspirin are narcotic-free NSAIDs that provide excellent pain relief, but many cannot take them as they irritate your stomach linings leaking to gastritis and ulcers.  Researchers at New York University’s Pain Research Institute have discovered an approach to uncoupling the pain killing from the negative effects of these popular over-the-counter medications.What’s the trick?  NSAIDs block the production of prostaglandin molecules that both trigger pain but also the body’s healing inflammatory response.  Prostaglandins attach to four receptors or switches on nerve and other cells, and the pain switch, EP2, is different from the healing switch, EP4. Using a preclinical mouse model, the investigators selectively blocked the EP2 receptor and silenced pain while allowing the animals to maintain normal healing.This critical finding opens the door for the development of ibuprofen and aspirin versions that selectively block production of EP2-bearing prost