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- Amandusson, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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Estrogen receptor-α expression in nociceptive-responsive neurons in the medullary dorsal horn of the female rat
- 2010
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Ingår i: European Journal of Pain. - : Elsevier. - 1090-3801 .- 1532-2149. ; 14:3, s. 245-248
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Estrogens exert a substantial influence on the transmission of nociceptive stimuli and the susceptibility to pain disorders as made evident by studies in both animals and human subjects. The estrogen receptor (ER) seems to be of crucial importance to the cellular mechanisms underlying such an influence. However, it has not been clarified whether nociceptive neurons activated by pain express ERs. In this study, a noxious injection of formalin was given into the lower lip of female rats, thereby activating nociceptive neurons in the trigeminal subnucleus caudalis as demonstrated by immunohistochemical labeling of Fos. Using a dual-label immunohistochemistry protocol ERalpha-containing cells were visualized in the same sections. In the superficial layers of the medullary dorsal horn, 12% of ERalpha-labeled cells, mainly located in lamina II, also expressed noxious-induced Fos. These findings show that nociceptive-responsive neurons in the medullary dorsal horn express ERalpha, thus providing a possible morphological basis for the hypothesis that estrogens directly regulate pain transmission at this level.
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| 2. |
- Amandusson, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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Estrogenic influences in pain processing
- 2013
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Ingår i: Frontiers in neuroendocrinology (Print). - : Elsevier. - 0091-3022 .- 1095-6808. ; 34:4, s. 329-349
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gonadal hormones not only play a pivotal role in reproductive behavior and sexual differentiation, they also contribute to thermoregulation, feeding, memory, neuronal survival, and the perception of somatosensory stimuli. Numerous studies on both animals and human subjects have also demonstrated the potential effects of gonadal hormones, such as estrogens, on pain transmission. These effects most likely involve multiple neuroanatomical circuits as well as diverse neurochemical systems and they therefore need to be evaluated specifically to determine the localization and intrinsic characteristics of the neurons engaged. The aim of this review is to summarize the morphological as well as biochemical evidence in support for gonadal hormone modulation of nociceptive processing, with particular focus on estrogens and spinal cord mechanisms.
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| 3. |
- Stening, Kent, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Hormonal replacement therapy does not affect self-estimated pain or experimental pain responses in post-menopausal women suffering from fibromyalgia: a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial
- 2011
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Ingår i: Rheumatology. - London : Oxford univesity press. - 1462-0324 .- 1462-0332. ; 50:3, s. 544-551
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives. FM is a condition that preferentially affects women. Sex hormones, and in particular oestrogens, have been shown to affect pain processing and pain sensitivity, and oestrogen deficit has been considered a potentially promoting factor for FM. However, the effects of oestrogen treatment in patients suffering from FM have not been studied. Here, we examined the effect of transdermal oestrogen substitution treatment on experimental as well as self-estimated pain in women suffering from FM.Methods. Twenty-nine post-menopausal women were randomized to either 8 weeks of treatment with transdermal 17β-oestradiol (50 µg/day) or placebo according to a double-blind protocol. A self-estimation of pain, a set of quantitative sensory tests measuring thresholds to temperature, thermal pain, cold pain and pressure pain, and a cold pressor test were performed on three occasions: before treatment, after 8 weeks of treatment and 20 weeks after cessation of treatment.Results. Hormonal replacement treatment significantly increased serum oestradiol levels as expected (P < 0.01). However, no differences in self-estimated pain were seen between treatment and placebo groups, nor were there any differences between the two groups regarding the results of the quantitative sensory tests or the cold pressor test at any of the examined time points.Conclusion. Eight weeks of transdermal oestradiol treatment does not influence perceived pain, pain thresholds or pain tolerance as compared with placebo treatment in post-menopausal women suffering from FM.
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| 4. |
- Stening, Kent, et al.
(författare)
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Influence of estrogen levels on thermal perception, pain thresholds and pain tolerance : Studies on women undergoing in vitro fertilization
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Pain. - : Elsevier BV. - 1526-5900 .- 1528-8447. ; 13:5, s. 459-466
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We examined the relationship between estrogen and pain in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). Quantitative sensory tests (QST) were performed twice during the IVF-regimen: once during hormonal down-regulation and once during hormonal upregulation. A group of healthy men and a group of women using monophasic contraceptives were also examined, to control for session-to-session effects. Among the women undergoing IVF, serum 17β-estradiol levels differed strongly between treatments as expected, and increased from 65.7 (SD = 26) pmol/l during the downregulation phase, to 5188 (SD = 2524) pmol/l during the up-regulation phase. Significant outcomes in the QST were only seen for temperature perception thresholds (1.7°C vs. 2.2°C; P = 0.003) and cold pain threshold (11.5°C vs. 14.5°C; P = 0.04). A similar change in cold pain threshold was also seen in the two control groups, however, and statistical analysis suggested that this change was due to a session-to-session effect rather than being the result of hormonal modulation. Heat pain thresholds, heat tolerance, pressure pain thresholds, and the cold pressor test showed no significant differences between sessions. These data demonstrate that pain perception and pain thresholds in healthy women show little, if any, changes even with major variations in serum estradiol levels.
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