Department of Neuroscience II, Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan.
Int J Biometeorol. 2011 May;55(3):319-26. doi: 10.1007/s00484-010-0339-8. Epub 2010 Jun 24.
Complaints of patients with chronic pain may increase when the weather changes. The exact mechanism for weather change-induced pain has not been clarified. We have previously demonstrated that artificially lowering barometric pressure (LP) intensifies pain-related behaviors in rats with neuropathic pain [chronic constriction injury (CCI) and spinal nerve ligation (SNL)]. In the present study, we examined the rate and magnitude of LP that aggravates neuropathic pain. We measured pain-related behaviors [number of paw lifts to von Frey hair (VFH) stimulation] in awake rats after SNL or CCI surgery, and found that rates of decompression ≥5 hPa/h and ≥10 hPa/h and magnitudes of decompression ≥5 hPa and ≥10 hPa augmented pain-related behaviors in SNL and CCI rats, respectively. These results indicate that LP within the range of natural weather patterns augments neuropathic pain in rats, and that SNL rats are more sensitive to LP than CCI rats.
慢性疼痛患者的抱怨可能会随着天气变化而增加。天气变化引起疼痛的确切机制尚未阐明。我们之前已经证明，人为降低气压（LP）会加重患有神经病理性疼痛的大鼠的疼痛相关行为[慢性缩窄性损伤（CCI）和脊神经结扎（SNL）]。在本研究中，我们检查了加重神经病理性疼痛的 LP 速率和幅度。我们在 SNL 或 CCI 手术后测量了清醒大鼠的疼痛相关行为[von Frey 毛发（VFH）刺激时的足抬起次数]，发现减压速率≥5 hPa/h 和≥10 hPa/h 以及减压幅度≥5 hPa 和≥10 hPa 分别增强了 SNL 和 CCI 大鼠的疼痛相关行为。这些结果表明，自然天气模式范围内的 LP 会加重大鼠的神经病理性疼痛，并且 SNL 大鼠比 CCI 大鼠对 LP 更敏感。
