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Viscero‐somatic reflexes in referred pain areas evoked by capsaicin stimulation of the human gut |
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| Authors: | Lars Arendt‐Nielsen Klaus‐Peter Schipper Georg Dimcevski Hiroyuki Sumikura Anne Lund Krarup Maria Adele Giamberardino Asbjørn Mohr Drewes |
| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratory for Experimental Pain Research, Center for Sensory‐Motor Interactions, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7, D3, DK‐9220 Aalborg E, Denmark;2. Center for Visceral Biomechanics and Pain, Department of Gastroenterology, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark;3. Pathophysiology of Pain Laboratory, Ce.S.I., ‘G. D'Annunzio’ Foundation, University of Chieti, Italy |
| Abstract: | The interaction between visceral pain and the sympathetic nervous system is only sparsely investigated in quantitative human studies. Referred visceral pain can be evoked experimentally by application of substances such as capsaicin (the pungent substance of chilli pepper) to the gut. The aim of the present study was to induce referred visceral pain from the small and large intestine in 32 volunteers via the stomal opening in patients with ileo‐ or colostomy and quantify the viscero‐somatic reflex responses in these referred pain areas by thermography and laser doppler flowmetry. Capsaicin evoked pain and referred pain areas in all subjects. In the referred pain area, the temperature increased by approximately 0.6°C (P<0.001) and the blood flow by approximately 35AU (P<0.001). Saline was used in a control experiment, and no temperature and blood flow changes were found. The present quantitative human study of viscero‐somatic reflexes showed dramatic sympathetic responses in the referred pain areas after experimentally induced gut pain. |
| Keywords: | Capsaicin Gut Experimental Pain Vaso‐motor reflexes Human Thermography Laser doppler flowmetry |