Jon Levine

Jon David Levine is an American neuroscientist known for his research on pain and analgesia, particularly in the field of placebo studies.

Research Levine's research focuses on pain and analgesia, such as the mechanism of the placebo effect in relieving pain. In 1978, he published an influential study showing that placebo analgesia could be blocked by the opioid antagonist naloxone. According to Fabrizio Benedetti (one of Levine's students), this study represents the point when "the biology of placebo was born". He has also published research showing that kappa opioid agonist painkillers are more effective for women than for men. He has also conducted studies on rats with experimentally induced arthritis, showing that beta-2 adrenergic antagonists can reduce joint damage in these rats. This work has also shown that these antagonists also block receptors on cells that allow noradrenaline to enter them. In addition, he has researched the role of inflammation in arthritis, which, he has found, can be either positive or negative.