According to the results of a study by researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas, at the cellular level, “pain begins differently for men and women.”

The group of researchers, which included Dr. Ted Price, Dr. Salim Megat, and their colleagues in the Pain Neurobiology Research Group, has determined that handling receptors in the nervous system for the neurotransmitter dopamine in a certain way can halt chronic pain in male mice. However, it doesn’t work on female mice.

Dr. Price, an associate professor of neuroscience in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, explained that the results of the study also implies that there are notable differences in pain’s origins among males and females.

He shared that despite the same intensity of pain in a male and a female subject, the mechanisms that drive pain are very distinct. Dr. Price added that the research team determined a cellular change that “completely reverses the genesis of the chronic pain in only the male.” The researchers also verified that various types of cells are responsible for driving the development of pain.

The study highlighted a recently discovered pain mechanism linked to D5 dopamine receptors, which is one of the five known classes of receptors for the neurotransmitter. Genetically-modified mice that didn’t have these D5 receptors had greatly reduced pain responses. However, this was only observed in the male mice.

Dr. Price noted that the response was “extraordinarily specific for males” and if the results are replicated in human tissues, it can help prove that a D5 antagonist drug can help treat pain in men.