Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T11:18:37.251Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modulation of the human nociceptive flexion reflex across the cardiac cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2001

LOUISA EDWARDS ,
CHRISTOPHER RING ,
DAVID McINTYRE  and
DOUGLAS CARROLL
LOUISA EDWARDS
Affiliation:
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
CHRISTOPHER RING
Affiliation:
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
DAVID McINTYRE
Affiliation:
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
DOUGLAS CARROLL
Affiliation:
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Get access

Abstract

Carotid baroreceptor stimulation has been shown to dampen pain. This study tested, in 40 normotensive adults, the hypothesis that pain is lower during systole when arterial baroreceptor stimulation is maximal than diastole when stimulation is minimal. The sural nerve was stimulated electrocutaneously to obtain a nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) threshold, and then stimulation was delivered for 28 trials at 100% NFR threshold at seven intervals after the R-wave. Nociceptive responding was indexed by electromyographic (EMG) activity elicited in the biceps femoris. Significant variations in EMG activity occurred across the cardiac cycle, with less activity midcycle, indicating that the NFR response was attenuated during systole compared to diastole. Stimulation of baroreceptors by natural changes in blood pressure during the cardiac cycle dampened nociception, and accordingly, the data support the arterial baroreflex mechanism of hypertensive hypoalgesia.

Keywords

BaroreflexBlood pressureCardiac cycle timeDescending pain modulationHypertensionNociceptive flexion reflex
Type
Research Article
Information
Psychophysiology , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , July 2001 , pp. 712 - 718
Copyright
2001 Society for Psychophysiological Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)