why do you feel pain if you put salt in a wound?

Question

I never tried it out, but I guess it works… Why else would people say that.

So what causes the pain?

In: 9

Answer 1

Nerves work by the interior of the cells becoming negatively charged through chemical processes, building up an “action potential” which is triggered by the sudden opening of channels that allow sodium ions to flow into the cell. This spike in charge is reversed as the slower potassium ion channels open, allowing potassium ions to flow out of the cell.

Since the normal operation of nerves depends on sodium ions sitting around just waiting to rush into the nerve cells, dumping a massive pile of sodium ions onto tissue would tend to increase the activity of the nerves which are sending pain signals.