Sex Differences in Pain and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenocortical Responses to Opioid Blockade
Mustafa al’Absi, PhD,
Lorentz E. Wittmers, MD, PhD,
Deanna Ellestad, RN,
Glenn Nordehn, DO,
Suck Won Kim, MD,
Clemens Kirschbaum, PhD and
Jon E. Grant, MD
From the Departments of Behavioral Sciences (M.A., D.E.), Family Medicine (M.A., G.N.), and Physiology (M.A., L.E.W.), University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Duluth, Minnesota; Department of Psychiatry (S.W.K., J.E.G.), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Experimental Psychology (C.K.), University of Düsseldorf, Germany.
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Figure 1. Outline of the study time protocol. CPT, cold pressor test; BP, blood pressure; MPQ, McGill Pain Questionnaire.
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Figure 2. Mean total (upper), sensory subscale (middle), and affect subscale (lower figure) scores on the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) obtained after the cold pressor test on both sessions (placebo and naltrexone). Line bars indicate standard error of the mean.
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Figure 3. Mean changes of the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) in response to the cold pressor test in men and women after placebo and naltrexone. Line bars indicate standard error of the mean. Changes were calculated by subtracting blood pressure measures obtained during baseline rest from measures obtained during the cold pressor test.
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Figure 4. Mean plasma (A) and salivary cortisol (B), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH; C), and beta-endorphin (D) concentrations obtained before and after consuming placebo or naltrexone and after performing the cold pressor test (CPT) and thermal pain test. Order of the 2 pain procedures was counterbalanced. Because of similar changes in men and women, data were collapsed across gender.
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Copyright © 2004 by the American Psychosomatic Society
