title: Oxytocin and the modulation of pain experience: Implications for chronic pain management.
abstract: In an acute environment pain has potential protective benefits. However when pain becomes chronic this protective effect is lost and the pain becomes an encumbrance. Previously unheralded substances are being investigated in an attempt to alleviate the burden of living with chronic pain. Oxytocin, a neuropeptide hormone, is one prospective pharmacotherapeutic agent gaining popularity. Oxytocin has the potential to modulate the pain experience due to its ubiquitous involvement in central and peripheral psychological and physiological processes, and thus offers promise as a therapeutic agent. In this review, we discuss previous effective applications of oxytocin in pain-free clinical populations and its potential use in the modulation of pain experience. We also address the slowly growing body of literature investigating the administration of oxytocin in clinical and experimentally induced pain in order to investigate the potential mechanisms of its reported analgesic actions. We conclude that oxytocin offers a potential novel avenue for modulating the experience of pain, and that further research into this area is required to map its therapeutic benefit.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia; Caulfield Pain Management and Research Centre, 260 Kooyong Road, Caulfield, VIC 3162, Australia. Electronic address: lincoln.tracy@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Lincoln M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Tracy
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia. Electronic address: nellie.georgiou-karistianis@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Nellie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Georgiou-Karistianis
authors.affiliation: Caulfield Pain Management and Research Centre, 260 Kooyong Road, Caulfield, VIC 3162, Australia; National Aging Research Institute, 34-54 Poplar Road, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia. Electronic address: s.gibson@nari.unimelb.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia; Caulfield Pain Management and Research Centre, 260 Kooyong Road, Caulfield, VIC 3162, Australia. Electronic address: melita.giummarra@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Melita J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Giummarra
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D058748:Pain Perception / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics; D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: Analgesia; Chronic pain; Intranasal; Oxytocin; Pain