Studies of human psycho-physiological responses to visceral pain.

研究人类对内脏疼痛的心理生理反应。

• 批准号: G0600965/1
• 负责人: Qasim Aziz
• 金额: $ 50.98万
• 依托单位: Queen Mary University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G0600965%2F1
• 关键词: Studies; human; psycho; physiological; responses

Nature of proposed research: while pain is a common human experience, our tolerance to it varies. This is because factors that influence pain perception such as life experiences, mental state and our genes, differ between individuals. Furthermore, when we perceive pain different parts of the nervous system are activated. These include nerves that carry pain signals from the body to the brain, control organ function e.g. heart and gut, and those that control the secretion of hormones such as cortisol that help combat stress. In our preliminary studies, we induced pain by blowing up a balloon in the healthy human oeosphagus (gullet) while we measured the activity of nerves that control the heart. We demonstrated that the activity of the vagus nerve which slows down the heart increased in some subjects and decreased in others. Interestingly, subjects who showed an increase in activity were in general more anxious and worried than those who showed a decrease in activity. These results suggest that two distinct populations exist in the way they respond to pain. We now want to carry out studies in a larger number of subjects to determine how prevalent the two types of responses to pain are and also to determine whether a particular response in an individual is reproducible over time. Furthermore we want to determine whether the hormonal response (cortisol levels) to stress is different in the two types of individuals and whether they also differ in the degree to which their oesophagus becomes sensitive after injury with acid. Finally we want to determine if patients who have chronic pain arising from the oesophagus but in whom no cause can be identified also demonstrate the same two types of response to pain as healthy subjects. We will also determine whether individuals who behave differently to pain do so because they have different genes from others. Prospective outcomes: we anticipate that this research will improve our understanding of why individuals differ in their response to pain and also whether certain individuals are more likely to developing chronic pain conditions. Expected benefit to human health: if certain individuals are more at risk of developing chronic pain then treatment strategies can be developed based on the reasons leading to this increase in risk, and preventative measures can then be taken to protect these individuals from environmental influences that may predispose them to the development of chronic pain conditions.

拟议研究的性质：虽然疼痛是一种常见的人类体验，但我们对它的容忍度有所不同。这是因为影响疼痛感知的因素，如生活经历、精神状态和我们的基因，因人而异。此外，当我们感觉到疼痛时，神经系统的不同部分会被激活。这些神经包括将疼痛信号从身体传递到大脑、控制器官功能(如心脏和肠道)的神经，以及控制皮质醇等有助于对抗压力的激素分泌的神经。在我们的初步研究中，我们在测量控制心脏的神经活动的同时，通过在健康的人的脊椎(食道)中吹起一个气球来引起疼痛。我们证明，使心脏减慢的迷走神经活动在一些受试者中增加，在另一些受试者中减少。有趣的是，一般来说，活跃度增加的受试者比活跃度下降的受试者更焦虑和担忧。这些结果表明，对疼痛的反应方式存在两种截然不同的人群。我们现在想要在更多的受试者中进行研究，以确定对疼痛的两种类型的反应有多普遍，并确定个人的特定反应是否可以随着时间的推移而重现。此外，我们想要确定这两种类型的个体对压力的激素反应(皮质醇水平)是否不同，以及他们的食道在酸损伤后变得敏感的程度是否也不同。最后，我们想确定由食道引起的慢性疼痛的患者是否也表现出与健康受试者相同的两种类型的疼痛反应。我们还将确定那些对疼痛表现不同的人是否因为他们与其他人有不同的基因而这样做。预期结果：我们预计这项研究将提高我们对为什么个人对疼痛的反应不同以及某些人是否更有可能发展为慢性疼痛条件的理解。对人类健康的预期益处：如果某些人患慢性疼痛的风险更大，那么可以根据导致这种风险增加的原因制定治疗策略，然后可以采取预防措施来保护这些人免受环境影响，这些环境影响可能使他们容易发展为慢性疼痛条件。