Feeling pain

This animation shows the body' s response to a bee sting on the nose, giving a general description of the communication between the peripheral nervous system detecting the pain and the central nervous system issuing a reactive response.

Pain provides the body with a protective mechanism, alerting it to potential or actual damage to the body' s tissues. In the example of a bee sting, the pain receptors in the skin detect tissue damage from the bee sting. Then, the peripheral nerves send a pain signal to the brain. The brain analyzes the pain signal. In turn, the brain delivers a message back to the muscles of the arm to react.

Reviewed last on: 10/5/2008
Luc Jasmin, MD, PhD, Gene Therapeutics Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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