Naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also known as the sand puppy, or desert mole rat, may help scientists to unlock the secrets of pain reception in humans, because they appears to lack a neurotransmitter that is crucial to the sensation of certain types of pain, a recent research revealed that.
The research was published in the journal PLoS Biology on January 29. It was under the lead of Thomas Park, a professor of of biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The study revealed the curious adaptations of naked mole rats that altered the way they experience pain.
In this study, the investigators stimulated the naked mole rats with those substances such as acid and capsaicin, but the rats completely didn't care the pain.
They found that the phenomenon may be linked to substance P, a neurotransmitter which is a common component of pain responses in nearly every mammal, including humans. #Link
