Experimental pain models reveal no sex differences in pentazocine analgesia in humans.
BACKGROUND
Accumulating evidence suggests that there are sex differences in analgesic responses to opioid agonists. Several studies using an oral surgery pain model have reported more robust analgesia to kappa-agonist-antagonists (e.g., pentazocine, nalbuphine, butorphanol) among women than among men. However, evidence of sex differences in kappa-agonist-antagonist effects from studies of experimentally induced pain in humans is lacking.


METHODS
Therefore, the analgesic effects of intravenous pentazocine (0.5 mg/kg) were determined in healthy women (n = 41) and men (n = 38) using three experimental pain models: heat pain, pressure pain, and ischemic pain. Each pain procedure was conducted before and after double-blind administration of both pentazocine and saline, which occurred on separate days in counterbalanced order.


RESULTS
Compared with saline, pentazocine produced significant analgesic responses for all pain stimuli. However, no sex differences in pentazocine analgesia emerged. Effect sizes for the sex differences were computed; the magnitude of effects was small, and an equal number of measures showed greater analgesia in men than in women. Also, analgesic responses were not highly correlated across pain modalities, suggesting that different mechanisms may underlie analgesia for disparate types of pain.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate significant analgesic responses to pentazocine in both men and women across multiple experimental pain assays, and the absence of sex differences contrasts with previous data from the oral surgery model. The most likely explanation for the discrepancy in results is that of differences in the pain assays. These findings are important because they suggest that sex differences in opioid analgesia may be specific to certain types of pain.
Fillingim
Roger B
RB
University of Florida College of Dentistry, Public Health Services and Research, 1600 Southwest Archer Road, Room D8-44A, P. O. Box 100404, Gainesville, Florida 32610-0404, USA. rfilling@ufl.edu
Ness
Timothy J
TJ
Glover
Toni L
TL
Campbell
Claudia M
CM
Price
Donald D
DD
Staud
Roland
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000379:methods; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D010423:Pentazocine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D010423:Pentazocine