Insights into the mechanisms and the emergence of sex-differences in pain. (3rd December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Melchior, Meggane; Poisbeau, Pierrick; Gaumond, Isabelle; Marchand, Serge
• Is Part Of: Neuroscience. Volume 338(2016)
• Page Start: 63
• Page End: 80
• Publication Date: 2016-12-03
• Subjects: ANS autonomic nervous system -- BP blood pressure -- CFA Complete Freund's adjuvant -- DRG dorsal root ganglion -- fMRI functional magnetic resonance imaging -- FSH Follicle-stimulating hormone -- GABA gamma-Aminobutyric acid -- KOR kappa-opioid receptor -- LH Luteinizing hormone -- LPS Lipopolysaccharide -- MK801 dizocilpine -- MOR mu-opioid receptor -- NICU neonatal intensive care unit -- NMDA N-methyl-D-aspartate -- PAG periaqueductal gray matter -- PBn parabrachial nucleus -- PET positron emission tomography -- RVM rostro-ventral medulla -- SIA stress induced analgesia -- TLR4 Toll Like Receptor 4; pain -- nociception -- sex hormones -- gender -- sex -- development; Neurochemistry -- Periodicals; Neurophysiology -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Neurochimie -- Périodiques; Neurophysiologie -- Périodiques; Neurochemistry; Neurophysiology; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 612.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.05.007
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-4522

Abstract

Highlights: Sex and gender influence the occurrence of pain and the response to treatments. Women are overrepresented in most clinical pain conditions. Biological and psychological factors are acting on sex and gender pain modulation. Sex and gender are essential factors in personalized pain medicine. Abstract: Recent studies describe sex and gender as critical factors conditioning the experience of pain and the strategies to respond to it. It is now clear that men and women have different physiological and behavioral responses to pain. Some pathological pain states are also highly sex-specific. This clinical observation has been often verified with animal studies which helped to decipher the mechanisms underlying the observed female hyper-reactivity and hyper-sensitivity to pain states. The role of gonadal hormones in the modulation of pain responses has been a straightforward hypothesis but, if pertinent in many cases, cannot fully account for this complex sensation, which includes an important cognitive component. Clinical and fundamental data are reviewed here with a special emphasis on possible developmental processes giving rise to sex-differences in pain processing.