Postgraduation Program in Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Laboratory of Pain and Neuromodulation, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA)/UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Pain Med. 2018 Aug 1;19(8):1578-1586. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnx297.
Although the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been intensively investigated in animal models of chronic pain, its role in human pain processing is less understood.
To study the neurophysiology of BDNF modulation on acute experimental pain, we performed a cross-sectional study.
We recruited 20 healthy male volunteers (19-40 years old) and assessed their serum BDNF levels, quantitative sensory testing, and cortical excitability parameters using transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Linear regression models demonstrated that the BDNF (β = -5.245, P = 0.034) and intracortical facilitation (β = -3.311, P = 0.034) were inversely correlated with heat pain threshold (adjusted R2 = 44.26). The BDNF (β = -3.719, P ≤ 0.001) was also inversely correlated with conditioned pain modulation (adjusted R2 = 56.8).
Our findings indicate that higher serum BDNF and intracortical facilitation of the primary motor cortex are associated with increased sensitivity to heat pain and high serum BDNF with reduced pain inhibition during noxious heterotopic stimulation.
尽管脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）在慢性疼痛的动物模型中得到了深入研究，但它在人类疼痛处理中的作用仍知之甚少。
为了研究 BDNF 对急性实验性疼痛的神经生理学调节作用，我们进行了一项横断面研究。
我们招募了 20 名健康男性志愿者（19-40 岁），并使用经颅磁刺激评估了他们的血清 BDNF 水平、定量感觉测试和皮质兴奋性参数。
线性回归模型表明，BDNF（β=-5.245，P=0.034）和皮质内易化（β=-3.311，P=0.034）与热痛阈值呈负相关（调整后的 R2=44.26）。BDNF（β=-3.719，P≤0.001）也与条件性疼痛调节呈负相关（调整后的 R2=56.8）。
我们的发现表明，较高的血清 BDNF 和初级运动皮层的皮质内易化与热痛敏感性增加有关，而较高的血清 BDNF 与有害异源性刺激时的疼痛抑制降低有关。
