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. 2019 Dec 4;14(12):e0225849.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225849. eCollection 2019.

Total sleep deprivation increases pain sensitivity, impairs conditioned pain modulation and facilitates temporal summation of pain in healthy participants

Alexander Torp Staffe  1 , Mathias Winther Bech  1 , Sara Louise Kjær Clemmensen  1 , Henriette Tranberg Nielsen  1 , Dennis Boye Larsen  1 , Kristian Kjær Petersen  1   2
Affiliations

Total sleep deprivation increases pain sensitivity, impairs conditioned pain modulation and facilitates temporal summation of pain in healthy participants

Alexander Torp Staffe et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Chronic pain patients often suffer from insomnia or impaired sleep which has been associated with increased pain sensitivity, but a limited amount of studies have investigated the effects of total sleep deprivation on central pain mechanisms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of total sleep deprivation on temporal summation, conditioned pain modulation, thermal and pressure pain sensitivity in healthy participants. Twenty-four healthy participants took part in this two-session trial. The measurements were conducted after a night of habitual sleep (baseline) and following 24 hours of total sleep deprivation. Detection thresholds for cold and warmth and pain thresholds for cold and heat were assessed. Cuff induced pressure pain detection and tolerance thresholds, temporal summation and conditioned pain modulation were assessed with user-independent, computer-controlled cuff algometry. Conditioned pain modulation was significantly impaired, temporal summation was significantly facilitated and pain sensitivity to pressure and cold pain were significantly increased at follow-up compared with baseline. In conclusion, this study found that one night of total sleep deprivation impaired descending pain pathways, facilitated spinal excitability and sensitized peripheral pathways to cold and pressure pain. Future studies are encouraged to investigate if sleep therapy might normalize pain sensitivity in sleep-deprived chronic pain patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

NociTech is partly owned by Aalborg University and that I, K. K. Petersen, was partly employed by NociTech from January 2015 to December 2016. The work conducted by me, K. K. Petersen, in this period did not affect any of my research in that period or in future projects. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Thermal QST data before and after total sleep deprivation (mean ± SD).
A significant decrease in cold pain threshold (CPT) was found after total sleep deprivation (Post-TSD) compared to before TSD (Pre-TSD), whereas cold and warm detection thresholds (CDT and WDT), and heat pain threshold (HPT) were unaffected. *, p < 0.05.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Cuff induced pain detection and tolerance thresholds before and after total sleep deprivation (mean ± SD).
Cuff induced pain detection (cPDT) and tolerance thresholds (cPTT) significantly decreased after total sleep deprivation (Post-TSD) compared with before TSD (Pre-TSD). *, p < 0.05.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Temporal summation of pain before and after total sleep deprivation (mean ± SD).
Temporal summation of pain was significantly increased after total sleep deprivation (Post-TSD) compared to before TSD (Pre-TSD). *, p < 0.05.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Conditioned pain modulation before and after total sleep deprivation (mean ± SD).
Conditioned pain modulation is assessed using an unconditioned (white bars) and conditioned cuff pain detection threshold (cPDT). Subjects displayed a significant (*, P<0.05) increase in conditioned cPDT compared with unconditioned cPDT at baseline but not following 24 hours of total sleep deprivation (TSD).
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