Eigenbrod, O. et al. Science 364, 852–859 (2019)

Pain: some rodents feel it; others…don’t, according to new research in Science that explores nociception in eight subterranean African rodents.

From prior work, naked mole rats are known to react negatively to an ingredient in mustard oil known as AITC but show notable insensitivity to capsaicin and hydrogen chloric acid, compounds that will elicit pain responses in both humans and traditional lab rodents. Wondering if there’s an evolutionary element that might explain why some compounds prove noxious but others benign, a team of researchers tested pain responses in eight of the naked mole rat’s close relatives. Sensitivities to the trio of triggers varied among the different species, as did expression of a number of genes. Ion channels appear to play a particular role in mediating pain sensitivity.