title: Hypersensitivity to pain in congenital blindness.
abstract: Vision is important for avoiding encounters with objects in the environment that may imperil physical integrity. We tested whether, in the absence of vision, a lower pain threshold would arise from an adaptive shift to other sensory channels. We therefore measured heat and cold pain thresholds and responses to suprathreshold heat stimuli in 2 groups of congenitally blind and matched normal-sighted participants. We also assessed detection thresholds for innocuous warmth and cold, and participants' attitude toward painful encounters in daily life. Our results show that, compared to sighted subjects, congenitally blind subjects have lower heat pain thresholds, rate suprathreshold heat pain stimuli as more painful, and have increased sensitivity for cold pain stimuli. Thresholds for nonpainful thermal stimulation did not differ between groups. The results of the pain questionnaires further indicated that blind subjects are more attentive to signals of external threats. These findings indicate that the absence of vision from birth induces a hypersensitivity to painful stimuli, lending new support to a model of sensory integration of vision and pain processing.
authors.affiliation: Chaire de recherche Harland Sanders en Sciences de la vision, École d'Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada BRAINlab, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Pisa Medical School, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Hocine
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Slimani
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Danti
authors.forename: Emiliano
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pietrini
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ptito
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kupers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001766:Blindness / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003080:Cold Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Multisensory integration; Pain perception; Plasticity; Vision
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