Is placebo analgesia mediated by endogenous opioids? A systematic review.
This systematic review assesses six experimental studies into the mechanism of placebo analgesia in human subjects suffering from clinical pain or experimentally induced ischaemic arm pain. Due to their sophisticated designs, these studies probably provide the best evidence that placebo analgesia exists. They also indicate that placebo analgesia is mediated by endogenous opiates. However, there seems to be room for additional studies.
Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 22700, 1100 DE Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacotherapy, Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS), P.O. Box 80082, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Gerben
G
Ter Riet
Anton J M
AJM
de Craen
Anthonius
A
de Boer
Alphons G H
AGH
Kessels
D000698:Analgesia; D000818:Animals; D004723:Endorphins / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015990:Placebo Effect
D004723:Endorphins