Life span lengthens when mice feel less pain

Metabolism gets healthier in rodents engineered to lack a sensory protein

NO PAIN, BIG GAIN  Mice that lack the pain receptor Trpv1 live longer and have improved metabolism compared with mice that feel pain normally (one shown).

George Shuklin/Wikimedia Commons

Mice with less pain live longer. When the animals lack a certain pain-sensing protein, their life span increases by an average of 10 to 15 percent, scientists report May 22 in Cell.