• Caroline A Arout, Ismene L Petrakis, Elizabeth Ralevski, Gregory Acampora, Julia Koretski, Diana DeNegre, Jenelle Newcomb, and Albert C Perrino.
• Department of Psychiatry, Center for Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism and VA Alcohol Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut.
• Pain Med. 2020 Nov 1; 21 (11): 2823-2829.

ObjectivePast investigations assessing the effects of thiopental on pain are conflicting. Although several studies demonstrate hyperalgesia as a result of barbiturate administration, others show analgesia. Our objective was to assess the effects of an infusion of the GABAA agonist thiopental, compared with placebo, in healthy participants on two subjective experimental pain paradigms: noxious electrical stimulation and intradermal capsaicin.MethodsFor electrical stimulation, the milliamps required to achieve pain threshold and tolerance were recorded, and the percent change from baseline was determined for each infusion condition. In the intradermal capsaicin condition, the area of hyperalgesia was determined by von Frey technique pre- and postinfusion, and the percent change in the area of hyperalgesia was calculated.ResultsThough thiopental infusion resulted in an increase in the electrical stimulation current required to elicit pain threshold or reach pain tolerance when compared with baseline, this finding was not statistically significant. In the intradermal capsaicin condition, there was a statistically significant difference in overall pre- and postinfusion pain interpretation, as measured by the McGill Pain Questionnaire (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in area of hyperalgesia.ConclusionsIn this human study of thiopental's effects on two experimental pain models, our results show that thiopental does not induce hyperalgesia.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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