Department of Neurophysiology, Center for Biomedicine and Medical Technology Mannheim (CBTM), Ruprecht Karls-University Heidelberg, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Ludolf-Krehl-Strasse 13-17, 68167 Mannheim, Germany Department of General Internal Medicine, University Hospital/Inselspital, 3010 Bern, Switzerland Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zürich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland.
Pain. 2010 Jan;148(1):36-42. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2009.08.029. Epub 2009 Oct 27.
The experiment investigated the impact of sleep restriction on pain perception and related evoked potential correlates (laser-evoked potentials, LEPs). Ten healthy subjects with good sleep quality were investigated in the morning twice, once after habitual sleep and once after partial sleep restriction. Additionally, we studied the impact of attentional focussing on pain and LEPs by directing attention to (intensity discrimination) or away from the stimulus (mental arithmetic). Laser stimuli directed to the hand dorsum were rated as 30% more painful after sleep restriction (49+/-7 mm) than after a night of habitual sleep (38+/-7 mm). A significant interaction between attentional focus and sleep condition suggested that attentional focusing was less distinctive under sleep restriction. Intensity discrimination was preserved. In contrast, the amplitude of the early parasylvian N1 of LEPs was significantly smaller after a night of partial sleep restriction (-36%, p<0.05). Likewise, the amplitude of the vertex N2-P2 was significantly reduced (-34%, p<0.01); also attentional modulation of the N2-P2 was reduced. Thus, objective (LEPs) and subjective (pain ratings) parameters of nociceptive processing were differentially modulated by partial sleep restriction. We propose, that sleep reduction leads to an impairment of activation in the ascending pathway (leading to reduced LEPs). In contradistinction, pain perception was boosted, which we attribute to lack of pain control distinct from classical descending inhibition, and thus not affecting the projection pathway. Sleep-restricted subjects exhibit reduced attentional modulation of pain stimuli and may thus have difficulties to readily attend to or disengage from pain.
该实验研究了睡眠限制对疼痛感知和相关诱发电位相关性（激光诱发电位，LEP）的影响。 10 名睡眠质量良好的健康受试者在早上进行了两次实验，一次是在习惯性睡眠后，一次是在部分睡眠限制后。此外，我们通过将注意力集中在刺激上（强度辨别）或远离刺激（心算）来研究注意力对疼痛和 LEP 的影响。与习惯性睡眠后的（38+/-7mm）相比，睡眠限制后（49+/-7mm）手部背侧的激光刺激被评定为疼痛增加了 30%。注意力焦点和睡眠状态之间存在显著的相互作用，表明在睡眠限制下，注意力焦点不太明显。强度辨别得以保留。相反，LEP 的早期旁矢状 N1 的振幅在部分睡眠限制后显著减小（-36%，p<0.05）。同样，顶点 N2-P2 的振幅也显著降低（-34%，p<0.01）；同时，N2-P2 的注意力调节也降低了。因此，伤害性处理的客观（LEP）和主观（疼痛评分）参数都受到部分睡眠限制的不同调节。我们提出，睡眠减少会导致上行通路的激活受损（导致 LEP 减少）。相反，疼痛感知增强，我们认为这是由于缺乏与经典下行抑制不同的疼痛控制，因此不会影响投射通路。睡眠受限的受试者对疼痛刺激的注意力调节减少，因此可能难以轻易注意或摆脱疼痛。
