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July 12, 2019
A new computer model successfully predicts the influence of daily pain sensitivity rhythms on the treatment of pain, both in healthy adults and in people with neuropathic pain. Jennifer Crodelle from New York University and her colleagues present these results PLOS Computational Biology.
Cross section of the spinal cord, including the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, where the pain is treated.
Credit: dw_ross / Flickr.
Just as processes such as metabolism and alertness follow a daily rhythm, sensitivity to pain changes throughout the day. Sensitivity is usually highest in the middle of the night and lowest at the end of the day. However, this rhythm is reversed for people with neuropathic pain who experience intense pain in response to a generally painless stimulus. For these patients, the lowest sensitivity to pain occurs at night.
The mechanisms underlying normal and neuropathic pain rhythms have been poorly understood. To gain new knowledge, Crodelle and his colleagues constructed a mathematical model that simulates the mode of transmission of nerve pain to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, where it is initially treated.
The researchers found that their model successfully reproduced the experimental results on pain sensitivity and predicted the impact of these results on the time. For example, he predicts the effects of time on the inhibition of pain, a phenomenon in which we feel a decrease in pain due to the application of a slight pressure, for example by gripping a toe with a blow of foot.
The model also suggests a potential mechanism of reverse sensitivity rhythm in people with neuropathic pain: the shift from inhibition to excitation in synaptic connections between nerve cells. This discovery indicates targets for further experimental studies and potential treatment.
Our modeling results provide a first step in understanding how the daily rhythm of pain sensitivity affects the normal treatment of pain throughout the day and how its daily rhythm can be beneficial to pain management strategies in the middle of the day. clinical. For example, medications for pain relief could be adjusted appropriately throughout the day, reducing the total amount of medication needed. "
Jennifer Crodelle, New York University
Potential next steps are to incorporate factors that can influence the daily rate of pain sensitivity, such as sleep deprivation and jet lag. The model could also facilitate research on reducing pain sensitivity by treating chronic pain known as spinal cord stimulation.
Source:
Journal reference:
Crodelle, J. et al. (2019) Modeling the daily rhythm of the treatment of human pain in the dorsal horn. PLOS Computational Biology. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007106.
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