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Psychophysical testing of spatial and temporal dimensions of endogenous analgesia: conditioned pain modulation and offset analgesia

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Abstract

The endogenous analgesia (EA) system is psychophysically evaluated using various paradigms, including conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and offset analgesia (OA) testing, respectively, the spatial and temporal filtering processes of noxious information. Though both paradigms assess the function of the EA system, it is still unknown whether they reflect the same aspects of EA and consequently whether they provide additive or equivalent data. Twenty-nine healthy volunteers (15 males) underwent 5 trials of different stimulation conditions in random order including: (1) the classic OA three-temperature stimulus train (‘OA’); (2) a three-temperature stimulus train as control for the OA (‘OAcon’); (3) a constant temperature stimulus (‘constant’); (4) the classic parallel CPM (‘CPM’); and (5) a combination of OA and CPM (‘OA + CPM’). We found that in males, the pain reduction during the OA + CPM condition was greater than during the OA (P = 0.003) and CPM (P = 0.07) conditions. Furthermore, a correlation was found between OA and CPM (r = 0.62, P = 0.01) at the time of maximum OA effect. The additive effect found suggests that the two paradigms represent at least partially different aspects of EA. The moderate association between the CPM and OA magnitudes indicates, on the other hand, some commonality of their underlying mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, Technion Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel

    Liat Honigman, David Yarnitsky & Elliot Sprecher

  2. Department of Neurology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel

    David Yarnitsky

  3. Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, 31905, Haifa, Israel

    Irit Weissman-Fogel

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  1. Liat Honigman
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  2. David Yarnitsky
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  3. Elliot Sprecher
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  4. Irit Weissman-Fogel
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Correspondence to Irit Weissman-Fogel.

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Honigman, L., Yarnitsky, D., Sprecher, E. et al. Psychophysical testing of spatial and temporal dimensions of endogenous analgesia: conditioned pain modulation and offset analgesia. Exp Brain Res 228, 493–501 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3580-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3580-7

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