Pain-modulating effects of oxytocin in patients with chronic low back pain

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin in the context of chronic pain: fibromyalgia & crps.

Here, the researchers conducted an exploratory, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study to examine effects of intranasal OT in male patients suffering from chronic low back pain (CBP) versus healthy controls (HC).

Why It Was Studied

However, analgesic effects of OT in chronic pain conditions remain elusive and the neural underpinnings have not yet been investigated in humans.

N = 22 participants with CBP and 22 HCs were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they continuously rated either spontaneously occurring back pain or acute thermal pain stimuli applied to the lower back.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 22 participants taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Because people in this Oxytocin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Oxytocin group a baseline to be compared against.

Each person switched between Oxytocin and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Brain Mapping, Caudate Nucleus, Hyperthermia, Low Back Pain, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Oxytocin and Pain Measurement.

Author keywords: Chronic low back pain, Heat pain, Striatum and fMRI.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, placebo-controlled and crossover study of Oxytocin in 22 participants in people with chronic pain: fibromyalgia & crps.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2020 (Neuropharmacology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, Chronic pain: fibromyalgia & CRPS research.