Transient analgesia evoked by noxious stimulus offset

Journal of Neurophysiology
Joshua D Grill, Robert C Coghill

Abstract

Pain has long been thought to wax and wane in relative proportion to fluctuations in the intensity of noxious stimuli. Dynamic aspects of nociceptive processing, however, remain poorly characterized. Here we show that small decreases (+/-1-3 degrees C) in noxious stimulus temperatures (47-50 degrees C) evoked changes in perceived pain intensity that were as much as 271% greater than those of equal magnitude increases. These decreases in perceived pain intensity were sufficiently large to be indistinguishable from those evoked by 15 degrees C decreases to clearly innocuous levels. Furthermore, decreases in pain ratings following noxious stimulus offset were significantly greater than those occurring during adaptation to constant temperature stimuli. Together, these findings indicate that an analgesic mechanism is activated during noxious stimulus offset. This analgesic phenomenon may serve as a temporal contrast enhancement mechanism to amplify awareness of stimulus offset and to reinforce escape behaviors. Disruption of this mechanism may contribute importantly to chronic pain.

Associated Clinical Trials

References

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Citations

Aug 21, 2009·The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience·Marc D YelleRobert C Coghill
Mar 15, 2016·Clinical Neurophysiology : Official Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology·Kazuhiro HayashiTakahiro Ushida
Nov 21, 2013·European Journal of Pain : EJP·M NilssonC Brock
Mar 7, 2008·European Journal of Pain : EJP·S W G Derbyshire, J Osborn
Jan 18, 2011·Pain·Marieke NiestersElise Y Sarton
Sep 10, 2013·Pain Medicine : the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine·Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, Roger B Fillingim
Feb 20, 2016·Pain Medicine : the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine·Hadas Nahman-AverbuchGiris Jacob
Sep 16, 2014·Pain Medicine : the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine·Erica SuzanElon Eisenberg
Apr 29, 2014·The Journal of Pain : Official Journal of the American Pain Society·Marieke JepmaTor D Wager
Feb 22, 2014·Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs·Monique van VelzenMichael Brines
Sep 13, 2017·European Journal of Pain : EJP·D LigatoL Arendt-Nielsen
Feb 1, 2007·The British Journal of Dermatology·G YosipovitchR C Coghill
Jul 23, 2013·Pain·Kelly M NaugleJoseph L Riley
Nov 7, 2019·Pain·Tibor M SzikszayKerstin Luedtke
Aug 1, 2013·Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise·Kelly M Naugle, Joseph L Riley
Aug 28, 2019·Journal of Neural Transmission·Alberto Herrero BabiloniGilles J Lavigne
Aug 17, 2018·Pain·Howard L Fields
Jun 1, 2015·Current Osteoporosis Reports·Lars Arendt-NielsenKristian K Petersen
May 26, 2018·European Journal of Pain : EJP·K K PetersenL Arendt-Nielsen
Oct 12, 2018·Scandinavian Journal of Pain·Thomas Dahl NissenAnne Estrup Olesen
Jun 27, 2019·Journal of Neurophysiology·Stuart W G DerbyshireChristopher L Asplund
Aug 4, 2019·European Journal of Pain : EJP·Kristian Kjaer PetersenLars Arendt-Nielsen

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