Department of Neurological Sciences, La Sapienza University and IRCCS San Raffaele, Rome, Italy.
Eur J Pain. 2010 Feb;14(2):222-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpain.2009.05.001. Epub 2009 May 23.
Laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) are brain responses to laser radiant heat pulses and reflect the activation of Adelta nociceptors. LEPs are to date the reference standard technique for studying nociceptive pathway function in patients with neuropathic pain. To find out whether LEPs also provide a useful neurophysiological tool for assessing antinociceptive drug efficacy, in this double-blind placebo-controlled study we measured changes induced by the analgesic tramadol on LEPs in 12 healthy subjects. We found that tramadol decreased the amplitude of LEPs, whereas placebo left LEPs unchanged. The opioid antagonist naloxone partially reversed the tramadol-induced LEP amplitude decrease. We conclude that LEPs may be reliably used in clinical practice and research for assessing the efficacy of antinociceptive drugs.
激光诱发电位（LEPs）是大脑对激光辐射热脉冲的反应，反映了 Adelta 伤害感受器的激活。LEPs 是迄今为止研究神经性疼痛患者伤害性通路功能的参考标准技术。为了确定 LEPs 是否也为评估抗伤害性药物疗效提供了有用的神经生理学工具，在这项双盲安慰剂对照研究中，我们测量了镇痛药曲马多在 12 名健康受试者中对 LEPs 的诱导变化。我们发现曲马多降低了 LEPs 的幅度，而安慰剂则使 LEPs 保持不变。阿片受体拮抗剂纳洛酮部分逆转了曲马多引起的 LEPs 幅度降低。我们的结论是，LEPs 可在临床实践和研究中可靠地用于评估抗伤害性药物的疗效。
