SCIENCE sciencemag.org
a function of temperature and
show that the phase behavior
is determined by the number of
aromatic residues and their pat-
terning, with uniform patterning
of aromatic residues promoting
LLPS and inhibiting aggregation.
They developed a sticker-and-
spacers model that can predict
the phase behavior of PLDs on
the basis of their sequence. —VV
Science, this issue p. 694
PAIN
A pathway to pain
in female mice
Men and women experience
pain differently, but the mecha-
nisms mediating this difference
and their universality, are
unclear. In female rodents, the
short isoform of the prolactin
receptor (PRLR-S), but not the
long isoform (PRLR-L), has been
shown to regulate the excit-
ability of sensory neurons. Chen
et al. studied opioid-induced
hyperalgesia (OIH) in a mouse
model and found that opioid
administration, but not trauma-
induced nerve injury, augmented
prolactin and decreased PRLR-L
in female mice, promoting the
activation of PRLR-S and the
development of OIH. Prolactin
inhibition prevented the occur-
rence of OIH in female mice, and
targeting prolactin signaling is
an attractive direction for future
research in preventing OIH in
women. —MM
Sci. Transl. Med. 12 , eaay7550 (2020).
7 FEBRUARY 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6478 639-C
Published by AAAS