1
|
Coxon L, Vollert J, Perro D, Lunde CE, Ferreira-Gomes J, Charrua A, Abreu-Mendes P, Krassowski M, Birch J, Meijlink J, Hummelshoj L, Hoffmann A, Aziz Q, Arendt-Nielsen L, Pogatzki-Zahn E, Evans E, Demetriou L, McMahon SB, Missmer SA, Becker CM, Zondervan KT, Horne AW, Cruz F, Sieberg CB, Treede RD, Nagel J, Vincent K. Comprehensive quantitative sensory testing shows altered sensory function in women with chronic pelvic pain: results from the Translational Research in Pelvic Pain (TRiPP) Study. Pain 2023; 164:2528-2539. [PMID: 37289573 PMCID: PMC10578421 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Chronic pelvic pain (CPP), despite its high prevalence, is still relatively poorly understood mechanistically. This study, as part of the Translational Research in Pelvic Pain (TRiPP) project, has used a full quantitative sensory testing (QST) paradigm to profile n = 85 women with and without CPP (endometriosis or bladder pain specifically). We used the foot as a control site and abdomen as the test site. Across 5 diagnostically determined subgroups, we found features which are common across different aetiologies, eg, gain of function in pressure pain threshold (PPT) when assessing responses from the lower abdomen or pelvis (referred pain site). However, disease-specific phenotypes were also identified, eg, greater mechanical allodynia in endometriosis, despite there being large heterogeneities within diagnostic groups. The most common QST sensory phenotype was mechanical hyperalgesia (>50% across all the groups). A "healthy' sensory phenotype was seen in <7% of CPP participants. Specific QST measures correlated with sensory symptoms assessed by the painDETECT questionnaire (pressure-evoked pain [painDETECT] and PPT [QST] [ r = 0.47, P < 0.001]; mechanical hyperalgesia (painDETECT) and mechanical pain sensitivity [MPS from QST] [ r = 0.38, P = 0.009]). The data suggest that participants with CPP are sensitive to both deep tissue and cutaneous inputs, suggesting that central mechanisms may be important in this cohort. We also see phenotypes such as thermal hyperalgesia, which may be the result of peripheral mechanisms, such as irritable nociceptors. This highlights the importance of stratifying patients into clinically meaningful phenotypes, which may have implications for the development of better therapeutic strategies for CPP.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lydia Coxon
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Jan Vollert
- University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
- Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
- Pain Research, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Division of Neurological Pain Research and Therapy, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Germany
| | - Danielle Perro
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Claire E. Lunde
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Biobehavioral Pain Innovations Lab, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Pain and Affective Neuroscience Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | | | - Ana Charrua
- IBMC/I3S, Faculty of Medicine of Porto & Hospital São João, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Abreu-Mendes
- IBMC/I3S, Faculty of Medicine of Porto & Hospital São João, Porto, Portugal
| | - Michal Krassowski
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Judy Birch
- Pelvic Pain Support Network, Poole, United Kingdom
| | - Jane Meijlink
- International Painful Bladder Foundation, Naarden, the Netherlands
| | | | - Anja Hoffmann
- Bayer AG, Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals, Berlin, Germany
| | - Qasim Aziz
- Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lars Arendt-Nielsen
- Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), SMI, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
- Department of Medical Gastroenterology, Mech-Sense, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
| | | | - Emma Evans
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Lysia Demetriou
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Stephen B. McMahon
- Formerly of Neurorestoration Group, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Stacey A. Missmer
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States
- Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Christian M. Becker
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Krina T. Zondervan
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Francisco Cruz
- IBMC/I3S, Faculty of Medicine of Porto & Hospital São João, Porto, Portugal
| | - Christine B. Sieberg
- Biobehavioral Pain Innovations Lab, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Pain and Affective Neuroscience Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | | | - Jens Nagel
- Bayer AG, Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals, Wuppertal, Germany
| | - Katy Vincent
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Qi L, Lin SH, Ma Q. Spinal VGLUT3 lineage neurons drive visceral mechanical allodynia but not sensitized visceromotor reflexes. Neuron 2023; 111:669-681.e5. [PMID: 36584681 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Revised: 09/08/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Visceral pain is among the most prevalent and bothersome forms of chronic pain, but their transmission in the spinal cord is still poorly understood. Here, we conducted focal colorectal distention (fCRD) to drive both visceromotor responses (VMRs) and aversion. We first found that spinal CCK neurons were necessary for noxious fCRD to drive both VMRs and aversion under naive conditions. We next showed that spinal VGLUT3 neurons mediate visceral allodynia, whose ablation caused loss of aversion evoked by low-intensity fCRD in mice with gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation or spinal circuit disinhibition. Importantly, these neurons were dispensable for driving sensitized VMRs under both inflammatory and central disinhibition conditions. Anatomically, a subset of VGLUT3 neurons projected to parabrachial nuclei, whose photoactivation sufficiently generated aversion in mice with GI inflammation, without influencing VMRs. Our studies suggest the presence of different spinal substrates that transmit nociceptive versus affective dimensions of visceral sensory information.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lu Qi
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Shing-Hong Lin
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Qiufu Ma
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Sex differences in pain-related behaviors and clinical progression of disease in mouse models of colonic pain. Pain 2023; 164:197-215. [PMID: 35559931 PMCID: PMC9756435 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Previous studies have reported sex differences in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease, including differences in visceral pain perception. Despite this, sex differences in behavioral manifestations of visceral pain and underlying pathology of the gastrointestinal tract have been largely understudied in preclinical research. In this study, we evaluated potential sex differences in spontaneous nociceptive responses, referred abdominal hypersensitivity, disease progression, and bowel pathology in mouse models of acute and persistent colon inflammation. Our experiments show that females exhibit more nociceptive responses and referred abdominal hypersensitivity than males in the context of acute but not persistent colon inflammation. We further demonstrate that, after acute and persistent colon inflammation, pain-related behavioral responses in females and males are distinct, with increases in licking of the abdomen only observed in females and increases in abdominal contractions only seen in males. During persistent colon inflammation, males exhibit worse disease progression than females, which is manifested as worse physical appearance and higher weight loss. However, no measurable sex differences were observed in persistent inflammation-induced bowel pathology, stool consistency, or fecal blood. Overall, our findings demonstrate sex differences in pain-related behaviors and disease progression in the context of acute and persistent colon inflammation, highlighting the importance of considering sex as a biological variable in future mechanistic studies of visceral pain as well as in the development of diagnostics and therapeutic options for chronic gastrointestinal diseases.
Collapse
|