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Projekt Druckansicht

Heterosynaptische Langzeitpotenzierung im Rückenmark als Mechanismus der neurogenen Hyperalgesie

Fachliche Zuordnung Kognitive, systemische und Verhaltensneurobiologie
Förderung Förderung von 2009 bis 2015
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 141784335
 
Erstellungsjahr 2016

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

The focus of this project was on the consequences of long-term potentiation of nociceptive signal processing in the spinal cord for pain perception in healthy human subjects (pain LTP). Pain LTP was quantified psychophysically using pain ratings to electrical and mechanical test stimuli, and electrophysiologically using pinprick-evoked potentials. We demonstrated that LTP is favoured over LTD when high frequency trains of electrical pulses (HFS) are applied to the surface of the skin via multicontact electrodes that cover a large skin area. Induction of pain LTP saturated after first to second HFS in healthy volunteers, and - in analogy to the hippocampus - impaired saturation properties may contribute to the transition from acute to chronic pain in patients. Using two selective nerve block techniques (capsaicin desensitization, nerve compression) we found that TRPV1-positive C-fibres are the main inducers of both homotopic and heterotopic pain LTP. TRPV1-positive A-fibres contribute substantially to the induction of heterotopic painlong-term potentiation. TRPV1-negative C-fibres induce a component of homotopic self-facilitation but not heterotopic pain-long-term potentiation. TRPV1-negative A-fibres are the main afferents mediating pinprick pain and hyperalgesia; however, they do not appear to contribute to the induction of pain-long-term potentiation. These findings show that distinct peripheral fibre classes mediate induction of long-term potentiation-like pain amplification, its spatial spread to adjacent skin (i.e. secondary hyperalgesia), and the resulting enhanced sensitivity to pinprick in humans. Pain LTP could be partly prevented by hydrocortisone or cold-pressor induced stress but not by duloxetine, and it could be reversed by sedation with propofol and remifentanil. In most subjects, pain LTP reverts to normal within a day, but in a subgroup of 20% of healthy subjects a single conditioning episode of 5x1s 100 Hz HFS led to persistent pain LTP that is reminiscent of late LTP. These subjects may be at risk to develop chronic pain syndromes. In summary, we characterized the induction properties for LTP-like pain amplification in humans, studied risk factors for the transition between early and late LTP and identified interventions for the prevention and reversal of pain LTP.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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