No relationship between the ins del polymorphism of the serotonin transporter promoter and pain perception in fibromyalgia patients and healthy controls
Stéphane Potvin
Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Equal contribution.
Search for more papers by this authorAnnie Larouche
Departments of Psychiatry and Physiology & Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Equal contribution.
Search for more papers by this authorEdith Normand
Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorJuliana Barcellos de Souza
Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorIsabelle Gaumond
Department of Health Sciences, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorSerge Marchand
Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Sylvain Grignon
Departments of Psychiatry and Physiology & Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Tel.: +1 819 346 1110.[email protected]Search for more papers by this authorStéphane Potvin
Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Equal contribution.
Search for more papers by this authorAnnie Larouche
Departments of Psychiatry and Physiology & Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Equal contribution.
Search for more papers by this authorEdith Normand
Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorJuliana Barcellos de Souza
Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorIsabelle Gaumond
Department of Health Sciences, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorSerge Marchand
Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Sylvain Grignon
Departments of Psychiatry and Physiology & Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
Tel.: +1 819 346 1110.[email protected]Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Background: In animals, decades of research have shown that serotonin (5-HT) is involved in endogenous pain inhibition systems, which are deficient in chronic pain disorders such as fibromyalgia (FM). In humans, there is preliminary evidence showing that 5-HT is involved in the FM pathophysiology. In the current endophenotyping study, we sought to investigate, for the first time in humans, the relationships between the serotonin transporter promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism and experimentally-induced pain perception/inhibition in healthy controls (HC) and FM patients.
Methods: Participants were 58 FM patients and 60 HC, who did not differ in age, sex or menstrual cycle. Thermal stimuli were used to measure pain thresholds. Pain inhibition was elicited using a tonic thermal test (Peltier thermode) administered before and after activation of the diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNIC) by means of a cold-pressor test (CPT).
Results: Thermal pain thresholds were higher in HC compared to FM patients. Pain ratings during the CPT were lower in HC, relative to FM patients. Also, DNIC efficacy was stronger in HC compared to FM patients. However, there was no relationship between 5-HTTLPR and experimentally-induced pain perception/inhibition.
Discussion: Our results further confirm that FM is associated with thermal hyperalgesia and deficient DNIC. However, we found no evidence showing that the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism influences pain perception and DNIC. Potential reasons for this negative result will be discussed. Further endophenotyping studies of 5-HT-related gene polymorphisms are required to ascertain the potential relationships between 5-HT and human pain perception/inhibition.
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