Differences in how pain is processed in males versus female

[nyt]

Nat Neurosci. 2015 Jun 29.
Different immune cells mediate mechanical pain hypersensitivity in male and female mice.
Sorge RE1, Mapplebeck JC2, Rosen S3, Beggs S4, Taves S5, Alexander JK4, Martin LJ3, Austin JS3, Sotocinal SG3, Chen D3, Yang M6, Shi XQ6, Huang H6, Pillon NJ7, Bilan PJ7, Tu Y8, Klip A7, Ji RR5, Zhang J9, Salter MW4, Mogil JS10.
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Abstract

A large and rapidly increasing body of evidence indicates that microglia-to-neuron signaling is essential for chronic pain hypersensitivity. Using multiple approaches, we found that microglia are not required for mechanical pain hypersensitivity in female mice; female mice achieved similar levels of pain hypersensitivity using adaptive immune cells, likely T lymphocytes. This sexual dimorphism suggests that male mice cannot be used as proxies for females in pain research.