Strong and aversive cold processing and pain facilitation in fibromyalgia patients relates to augmented thermal grill illusion.

The thermal grill illusion (TGI) is assumed to result from crosstalk between the thermoreceptive and nociceptive pathways. To elucidate this further, we compared 40 female fibromyalgia patients to 20 healthy women in an exploratory cross-sectional study. Sensations (cold, warm/heat, unpleasantness, pain and burning) evoked by 20 °C, 40 °C and alternating 20 °C/40 °C (TGI) and somatosensory profiles according to standardized quantitative sensory testing (QST) were assessed on the palm of the dominant hand.

Sex differences in the consumption of over-the-counter analgesics among amateur volleyball players.

Background: Compared with the normal adult population, athletes of several sport disciplines, such as endurance sports, ball sports, cycling and swimming, have higher use of over-the-counter analgesics (OTC analgesics). The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of OTC analgesic use in volleyball players as a typical competitive sport discipline. One particular focus was placed on the analysis whether the athletes' use of OTC analgesics was influenced by their performance motivation.

Sex differences in thermal detection and thermal pain threshold and the thermal grill illusion: a psychophysical study in young volunteers.

Background: Sex-related differences in human thermal and pain sensitivity are the subject of controversial discussion. The goal of this study in a large number of subjects was to investigate sex differences in thermal and thermal pain perception and the thermal grill illusion (TGI) as a phenomenon reflecting crosstalk between the thermoreceptive and nociceptive systems. The thermal grill illusion is a sensation of strong, but not necessarily painful, heat often preceded by transient cold upon skin contact with spatially interlaced innocuous warm and cool stimuli.

Calcium can mobilize and activate myosin-VI.

The ability to coordinate the timing of motor protein activation lies at the center of a wide range of cellular motile processes including endocytosis, cell division, and cancer cell migration. We show that calcium dramatically alters the conformation and activity of the myosin-VI motor implicated in pivotal steps of these processes. We resolved the change in motor conformation and in structural flexibility using single particle analysis of electron microscopic data and identified interacting domains using fluorescence spectroscopy.

Activation of axonal Kv7 channels in human peripheral nerve by flupirtine but not placebo - therapeutic potential for peripheral neuropathies: results of a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Flupirtine is an analgesic with muscle-relaxing properties that activates Kv7 potassium channels. Kv7 channels are expressed along myelinated and unmyelinated peripheral axons where their activation is expected to reduce axonal excitability and potentially contribute to flupirtine's clinical profile.

Trial Design: To investigate the electrical excitability of peripheral myelinated axons following orally administered flupirtine, in-vitro experiments on isolated peripheral nerve segments were combined with a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase I clinical trial (RCT).

Stimulation of PAR-2 excites and sensitizes rat cutaneous C-nociceptors to heat.

Proteinase-activated receptor 2 (PAR-2) is expressed on many nociceptive neurons. Application of PAR-2 agonists has been shown to induce behavioral signs of hyperalgesia. We investigated effects of the rat PAR-2 agonist SLIGRL-NH2 in the isolated rat skin-saphenous nerve preparation.

Osteoarthritic mice exhibit enhanced prostaglandin E2 and unchanged calcitonin gene-related peptide release in a novel isolated knee joint model.

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful degenerative joint disease. To assess joint nociceptor activation indirectly, we used a novel in vitro knee joint preparation and determined the release of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in osteoarthritic mice.

Methods: We studied STR/1N mice, which spontaneously develop OA, along with CD-1 mice as controls and C57/Bl6 mice with unilateral collagenase-induced OA and C57/Bl6 control mice.

Substance P and prostaglandin E2 release after shock wave application to the rabbit femur.

The biologic action of extracorporeal shock wave application on the musculoskeletal system is poorly understood. To prove the hypothesis that alterations of tissue concentrations of substance P and prostaglandin E(2) are involved in the biologic action of shock waves, extracorporeal shock waves with energy flux density of 0.9 mJ/mm2 (1500 pulses at 1/second) were applied in vivo to the distal femur of rabbits.

Different responses to drugs against overactive bladder in detrusor muscle of pig, guinea pig and mouse.

Direct comparison of experimental data for drugs commonly used in the treatment of overactive bladder is difficult because of possible species differences. In this study, we compare the effects of atropine, propiverine, oxybutynin and tolterodine in strips of pig, guinea pig and mouse detrusor muscle. In the three species, we observed slight differences in potency of carbachol-induced biphasic contractile responses between the species (guinea pig>pig>mouse).