Babies Feel Pain In The Womb
Reported September 13, 2011
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – This novel study has revealed the time in development
when infants gain the ability to distinguish pain from basic touch. The
researchers came to this conclusion based on recordings of brain activity in
preterm infants.
The evidence suggests that developing brain networks become mature enough to
identify pain as distinct from touch fairly late in development.
"Babies can distinguish painful stimuli as different from general touch from
around 35 to 37 weeks gestation—just before an infant would normally be
born," Lorenzo Fabrizi of University College London, was quoted as saying.
Infants can't actually tell you whether something hurts or not, so the
researchers relied on recordings of brain activity by electroencephalography
(EEG).
According to the researchers, recent studies have emphasized the importance
of bursts of neuronal activity, both spontaneous and evoked, during the
formation of functional brain circuitry. That bursting pattern of activity
shifts in development to adult-like responses that are more specific to
particular sensory inputs.
EEG recordings of infants between the ages of 28 to 45 weeks gestation show
that the brain begins to produce distinct responses to a simple touch versus
a clinically essential heel lance considered as painful at about 35 to 37
weeks gestation.
The results may have implications for the treatment, care, and development
of premature newborns, Fabrizi said, noting that these children can often
grow up to be either more or less sensitive to pain than usual.
"Repeated noxious stimulation of the kind used in this study is a feature of
neonatal intensive care," the researchers were quoted as saying. "Our
finding that noxious heel lance increases neuronal bursting activity in the
brain from the earliest age raises the possibility that excess noxious input
may disrupt the normal formation of cortical circuits, and that this is a
mechanism underlying the long-term neurodevelopmental consequences and
altered pain behavior in ex preterm children."
SOURCE: Current Biology, published online August 8, 2011
