Devanne Julia, Dufour André, Després Olivier, Pebayle Thierry, Lithfous Ségolène
Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, CNRS, UMR 7364, Université de Strasbourg, 12 Rue Goethe, 67000, Strasbourg, France.
CNRS, UAR 3489, Université de Strasbourg, 67087, Strasbourg, France.
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2024 Feb;124(2):573-583. doi: 10.1007/s00421-023-05294-1. Epub 2023 Aug 31.
We aimed to explore the link between local vasodilation and pain perception in elderly subjects, testing the hypothesis that altered local cutaneous blood flow participates in the decrease in pain tolerance with age.
Sixty-eight young and 83 older participants performed a pain tolerance test in which they hold their hand in an airtight box in which air temperature was regulated at 65 °C until the pain became unbearable. Participants continuously estimated pain intensity. Skin temperature and local blood flow in the box-exposed hand were continuously monitored.
In the young group, 97% of subjects resisted pain until the end of the test, whereas only 53% in the elderly group managed to do so, indicating that pain tolerance is impaired in the elderly. Among all participants, the skin temperature associated with the first pain sensation was below the threshold for nociceptor activation (43 °C). Interestingly, blood flow in the elderly group was correlated with pain judgment, whereas no such correlation was observed in the young.
Our results suggest that the local vasodilator response induced by local heating may be involved in pain perception and may influence thermal pain tolerance with aging. These results could contribute to a better understanding of vascular deficits and the development of chronic pain in vascular pathologies.
我们旨在探讨老年受试者局部血管舒张与疼痛感知之间的联系，检验局部皮肤血流改变参与疼痛耐受性随年龄下降这一假说。
68名年轻参与者和83名老年参与者进行了一项疼痛耐受性测试，他们将手放在一个气密箱中，箱内空气温度调节为65°C，直到疼痛变得无法忍受。参与者持续估计疼痛强度。持续监测箱内暴露手部的皮肤温度和局部血流。
在年轻组中，97%的受试者在测试结束前耐受疼痛，而老年组中只有53%的受试者能够做到，这表明老年人的疼痛耐受性受损。在所有参与者中，与首次疼痛感觉相关的皮肤温度低于伤害感受器激活阈值（43°C）。有趣的是，老年组的血流与疼痛判断相关，而在年轻人中未观察到这种相关性。
我们的结果表明，局部加热引起的局部血管舒张反应可能参与疼痛感知，并可能影响衰老过程中的热痛耐受性。这些结果有助于更好地理解血管缺陷以及血管病变中慢性疼痛的发生发展。
