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Quick discrimination of A delta and C fiber mediated pain based on three verbal descriptors
- Background: A delta and C fibers are the major pain-conducting nerve fibers, activate only partly the same brain areas, and are differently involved in pain syndromes. Whether a stimulus excites predominantly A delta or C fibers is a commonly asked question in basic pain research but a quick test was lacking so far. Methodology/Principal Findings: Of 77 verbal descriptors of pain sensations, "pricking", "dull" and "pressing" distinguished best (95% cases correctly) between A delta fiber mediated (punctate pressure produced by means of von Frey hairs) and C fiber mediated (blunt pressure) pain, applied to healthy volunteers in experiment 1. The sensation was assigned to A delta fibers when "pricking" but neither "dull" nor "pressing" were chosen, and to C fibers when the sum of the selections of "dull" or "pressing" was greater than that of the selection of "pricking". In experiment 2, with an independent cohort, the three-descriptor questionnaire achieved sensitivity and specificity above 0.95 for distinguishing fiber preferential non-mechanical induced pain (laser heat, exciting A delta fibers, and 5-Hz electric stimulation, exciting C fibers). Conclusion: A three-item verbal rating test using the words "pricking", "dull", and "pressing" may provide sufficient information to characterize a pain sensation evoked by a physical stimulus as transmitted via A delta or via C fibers. It meets the criteria of a screening test by being easy to administer, taking little time, being comfortable in handling, and inexpensive while providing high specificity for relevant information.
Author: | Florian Beißner, Amadeus Brandau, Christian Henke, Lisa Felden, Ulf Baumgärtner, Rolf-Detlef Treede, Bruno Georg OertelORCiDGND, Jörn LötschORCiDGND |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-114220 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012944 |
ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
Parent Title (English): | PLoS One |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2010/09/23 |
Date of first Publication: | 2010/09/23 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2011/09/01 |
Volume: | 5 |
Issue: | (9): e12944 |
Note: | Copyright: © 2010 Beissner et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Source: | PLoS ONE 5(9): e12944. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012944 |
HeBIS-PPN: | 275124878 |
Institutes: | Biochemie, Chemie und Pharmazie / Pharmazie |
Medizin / Medizin | |
Fachübergreifende Einrichtungen / Zentrum für Arzneimittelforschung, Entwicklung und Sicherheit (ZAFES) | |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Sammlung Biologie / Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte | |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - Namensnennung 3.0 |