Palmer Shea T, Martin Denis J
Faculty of Health & Social Care, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
Somatosens Mot Res. 2005 Dec;22(4):327-34. doi: 10.1080/08990220500420731.
Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) of thermal perception thresholds assesses small afferent nerve function. QST has also been widely used to investigate the effects of interventions on the perception of activity within these nerve fibres, often over brief time periods. The natural variation in perception thresholds over brief time periods has not been determined, however, complicating accurate identification of induced changes. The present study therefore investigated changes in thermal perception threshold values within a 1-h period. Twenty-four healthy women volunteers aged 18-28 years (mean 20.6, SD 2.8) undertook cold sensation (CS), warm sensation (WS), cold pain (CP), and hot pain (HP) perception threshold measurements on the thenar eminence of the dominant hand during six 8-min experimental cycles. The order of stimulus presentation was randomized within pre-selected criteria. An adaptation temperature of 32 degrees C, a rate of temperature change of 0.5 degrees C/s, a 3 cm x 3 cm thermode, and a method of limits algorithm were used. Separate two-way ANOVAs with repeated measures showed statistically significant changes over time for WS, CS, and HP (p < 0.05), but not for CP (p = 0.232). The results indicate that WS, CS, and HP perception thresholds change significantly with repeated testing over a 1-h period. These results should be carefully considered when assessing the importance of observed changes in thermal perception thresholds. In research trials exclusion of a control group would be a fundamental flaw.
热感觉阈值的定量感觉测试（QST）可评估小传入神经功能。QST也已被广泛用于研究干预措施对这些神经纤维内活动感知的影响，通常是在短时间内进行研究。然而，短时间内热感觉阈值的自然变化尚未确定，这使得准确识别诱发变化变得复杂。因此，本研究调查了1小时内热感觉阈值的变化。24名年龄在18 - 28岁（平均20.6岁，标准差2.8）的健康女性志愿者，在六个8分钟的实验周期中，对优势手的鱼际肌进行冷感觉（CS）、温感觉（WS）、冷痛（CP）和热痛（HP）感知阈值测量。刺激呈现顺序在预先选定的标准内随机排列。采用32摄氏度的适应温度、0.5摄氏度/秒的温度变化率、3厘米×3厘米的温度刺激器以及极限法算法。重复测量的独立双向方差分析显示，WS、CS和HP随时间有统计学显著变化（p < 0.05），但CP无显著变化（p = 0.232）。结果表明，在1小时内重复测试时，WS、CS和HP感知阈值有显著变化。在评估热感觉阈值观察到的变化的重要性时，应仔细考虑这些结果。在研究试验中，排除对照组将是一个基本缺陷。
