{"id":616869,"date":"2026-04-19T10:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T10:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616869\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T10:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T10:09:09","slug":"how-endometriosis-puts-the-brain-in-pain-mode-healthcare-in-europe-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616869\/","title":{"rendered":"How endometriosis puts the brain in &#8216;pain mode&#8217; \u2022 healthcare-in-europe.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"fancybox content-img\" rel=\"fancybox nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/healthcare-in-europe.com\/media\/story_section_text\/44648\/image-01-kanako-hayashi-portrait_hires.jpg\" title=\"Kanako Hayashi\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-01-kanako-hayashi-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait photo of Kanako Hayashi\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kanako Hayashi<\/p>\n<p>Image source: Washington State University\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1172\/JCI194136\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation<\/a>, WSU scientist Kanako Hayashi and collaborators found that repeated cycles of inflammation can trigger lasting changes in the brain, amplifying and sustaining pain over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re showing that this is not just a local gynecological disease,\u201d said Hayashi, a professor in WSU\u2019s School of Molecular Biosciences. \u201cOnce the system is sensitized, the brain keeps responding, even if the original lesions are gone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Endometriosis has long puzzled researchers because pain does not reliably match the extent of disease. Some patients with widespread lesions report little discomfort, while others with minimal tissue growth experience debilitating symptoms. \u201cThat mismatch tells us something more complex is happening,\u201d Hayashi said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the lesions themselves. It\u2019s how the body and the nervous system respond over time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To investigate, the research team designed a model that mimics repeated menstrual cycles. Most previous studies induced endometriosis-like conditions only once. Hayashi\u2019s group instead introduced multiple cycles, simulating the repeated backflow of menstrual tissue called retrograde menstruation, thought to contribute to the disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mice exposed to repeated cycles showed heightened sensitivity and lasting changes in the nervous system. Inflammation increased in the pelvic region, and signals traveled along nerve pathways to the spinal cord and brain, where researchers observed clear signs of neuroinflammation.\u00a0\u201cThat repeated stimulation acts like turning up the volume again and again,\u201d Hayashi said. \u201cEventually, the system becomes hypersensitive. Even small signals can feel very painful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kanako Hayashi Image source: Washington State University\u00a0 In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, WSU&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[299255,64,63,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-616869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-washingtonstateuniversity","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}