Abstract
BackgroundExperience and development of pain may be influenced by a number of physiological, psychological, and psychosocial factors. In a previous study we found differences in neuronal activation to noxious stimulation, and microstructural neuroanatomical differences, when comparing healthy volunteers with differences in size of the area of secondary hyperalgesia following a standardized burn injury.ObjectiveWe aim to investigate the degree of association between the volume of pain-relevant structures in the brain and the size of the area of secondary hyperalgesia following brief thermal sensitization.MethodsThe study consists of one experimental day, in which whole-brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans will be conducted including T1-weighed three-dimensional anatomy scan, diffusion tensor imaging, and resting state functional MRI. Before the experimental day, all included participants will undergo experimental pain testing in a parallel study (Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02527395). Results from this experimental pain testing, as well as the size of the area of secondary hyperalgesia from the included participants, will be extracted from this parallel study.ResultsThe association between the volume of pain-relevant structures in the brain and the area of secondary hyperalgesia will be investigated by linear regression of the estimated best linear unbiased predictors on the individual volumes of the pain relevant brain structures.ConclusionsWe plan to investigate the association between experimental pain testing parameters and the volume, connectivity, and resting state activity of pain-relevant structures in the brain. These results may improve our knowledge of the mechanisms responsible for the development of acute and chronic pain.ClinicalTrialDanish Research Ethics Committee (identifier: H-15010473). Danish Data Protection Agency (identifier: RH-2015-149). Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02567318; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02567318 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6i4OtP0Oi)
Highlights
The experience and development of pain may be influenced by a number of physiological, psychological, and psychosocial factors
We plan to investigate the association between experimental pain testing parameters and the volume, connectivity, and resting state activity of pain-relevant structures in the brain
These results may improve our knowledge of the mechanisms responsible for the development of acute and chronic pain
Summary
The experience and development of pain may be influenced by a number of physiological, psychological, and psychosocial factors. A standardized burn injury in the skin provokes reversible primary and secondary hyperalgesia in healthy volunteers. Injury-induced primary hyperalgesia is located in the traumatized area and is characterized by reduced thresholds for thermal and mechanical stimulation. Secondary hyperalgesia is located around the traumatized area, and is characterized by reduced thresholds for mechanical stimulation [1,2]. Secondary hyperalgesia can be provoked by a number of different conditioning stimuli, and according to previous studies this is a robust phenomenon that can be applied to investigate basic pain physiology [2,6,7]. In a previous study we found differences in neuronal activation to noxious stimulation, and microstructural neuroanatomical differences, when comparing healthy volunteers with differences in size of the area of secondary hyperalgesia following a standardized burn injury
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