Mol Pain
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The aim of this study was to assess whether the genotype of the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) in gastric cancer patients is associated with postoperative pain and pain threshold. ⋯ In patients with gastric cancer, heat pain stimulation is associated with 5-HTTLPR polymorphism, and postoperative pain may be related to 5-HTTLPR polymorphism.
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This study aimed to investigate distinct neurometabolites in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right and left thalamus, and insula of patients with fibromyalgia (FM) compared with healthy controls using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Levels of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG), total NAA (tNAA = NAA + NAAG), myo-inositol (ml), glutamine (Gln), glutamate (Glu), Glx (Glu + Gln), glycerophosphocholine (GPC), total choline (tCho = GPC + phosphocholine) and glutathione (GSH) levels relative to total creatine (tCr) levels including creatine (Cr) and phosphocreatine (PCr) and relative to Cr levels were determined in the ACC, right and left thalamus, and insula in 12 patients with FM and 13 healthy controls using MRS. In the ACC, NAA/tCr (P = 0.028) and tCho/tCr (P = 0.047) were higher in patients with FM. ⋯ Patients with FM showed lower levels of ml/Cr (P = 0.037) in the right insula than healthy controls. These findings are paramount to understand decisive pathophysiological mechanisms related to abnormal features in the brain and parasympathetic nervous systems in FM. We suggest that the results presented herein may be essential to understand hidden pathological mechanisms and also life system potential as protective and recovering metabolic strategies in patients with FM.
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Beta 2 adrenergic receptor (β2 AR) activation in the central and peripheral nervous system has been implicated in nociceptive processing in acute and chronic pain settings with anti-inflammatory and anti-allodynic effects of β2-AR mimetics reported in several pain states. In the current study, we examined the therapeutic efficacy of the β2-AR agonist clenbuterol in a rat model of persistent postsurgical hypersensitivity induced by disruption of descending noradrenergic signaling in rats with plantar incision. We used growth curve modeling of ipsilateral mechanical paw withdrawal thresholds following incision to examine effects of treatment on postoperative trajectories. ⋯ Direct spinal infusion of clenbuterol failed to reduce mechanical hypersensitivity in depleted rats with incision suggesting that beneficial effects of β2-AR stimulation in this model are largely peripherally mediated. Lastly, we examined β2-AR distribution in the spinal cord and skin using in-situ hybridization and IHC. These data add to our understanding of the role of β2-ARs in the nervous system on hypersensitivity after surgical incision and extend previously observed anti-inflammatory actions of β2-AR agonists to models of surgical injury.
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The previous documents demonstrated that iron deposition was identified in brain deep nuclei and periaqueductal gray matter region in chronic migraine (CM), and less is known about the cerebral iron deposition in CM. The aim of this study is to investigate the cerebral iron deposition in CM using an advanced voxel-based quantitative susceptibility mapping. ⋯ The current study demonstrated increased cerebral iron deposition presented in chronic patients, which suggested that increased cerebral iron deposition might play a role in the migraine chronicization.
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Provoked vestibulodynia (PVD) is a chronic vulvar pain disorder characterized by hypersensitivity and severe pain with pressure localized to the vulvar vestibule. Knowledge regarding pathophysiological mechanisms contributing to the etiology and production of symptoms in PVD remains incomplete but is considered multifactorial. Using a cross-sectional observational study design, data from untargeted metabolomic profiling of vaginal fluid and plasma in women with PVD and healthy women was combined with pain testing and brain imaging in women with PVD to test the hypotheses that women with PVD compared to healthy women show differences in vaginal and plasma metabolites involved in steroid hormone biosynthesis. ⋯ The observed reductions in androgenic metabolite levels showed large effect size associations with increased vulvar vestibular pain and vulvar muscle tenderness and decreases in androgenic and progestin metabolites were associated with decreased connectivity strength in primary sensorimotor cortices. Women with PVD showed symptom-associated reductions in vaginal fluid concentrations of metabolites involved in the biosynthesis of steroid hormones previously shown to affect the integrity of vulvar and vaginal tissue and nociceptive processing. Deficiency of certain steroids may be an important mechanism contributing to the pathophysiology of symptoms in PVD may provide potential diagnostic markers that could lead to new targets for therapeutic intervention.