• Yuka Oono, Lene Baad-Hansen, Kelun Wang, Lars Arendt-Nielsen, and Peter Svensson.
• Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark Section of Anesthesiology and Clinical Physiology, Department of Oral Restitution, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan Section of Clinical Oral Physiology, Department of Dentistry, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Aalborg Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), MindLab, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
• Pain. 2013 Dec 1; 154 (12): 2684-2690.

AbstractThe aim of the study was to systematically investigate the effect of craniofacially evoked conditioned pain modulation on somatosensory function using a quantitative sensory testing (QST) protocol applied to the trigeminal area in healthy humans. Pressure pain evoked by a mechanical compressive device was applied as conditioning stimulus (CS) in the craniofacial region, with a pain intensity of 5 on a visual analogue scale (VAS: 0-10 cm) (painful session) or with VAS score of 0 (control session). A full QST battery of 13 parameters was performed as test stimuli on the dominant-side cheek. The individual QST data from 11 men and 12 women were transformed into z scores, and the QST data and z scores were tested using analyses of variance. Analyses of variance of pressure pain threshold (PPT) data (log-transformed values and z scores) indicated significant session (P ≤ .003) and time (P < .001) effects with a session-time interaction (P < .001), but no main effect of sex (P ≥ .053, effect size ≥ .166). The session-time interaction showed that the PPTs in the painful session were associated with significantly higher log-transformed PPT values and significantly lower z scores compared with the control session at the time point during CS (hypoalgesia) (P < .001). No other QST parameters were significantly modulated by the CS. Sex differences were not detected in this study; a larger sample size may be needed to further explore this possibility. However, the findings indicate that when extensive QST protocols are applied, PPT may be the most sensitive measure to detect endogenous pain inhibitory mechanisms.Copyright © 2013 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

34 keywords...

hide…