The Journal of Pain
Volume 10, Issue 9 , Pages 969-975, September 2009

DRD3 Ser9Gly Polymorphism Is Related to Thermal Pain Perception and Modulation in Chronic Widespread Pain Patients and Healthy Controls

  • Stéphane Potvin

      Affiliations

    • Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
    • ,
  • Annie Larouche

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Psychiatry and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
    • ,
  • Edith Normand

      Affiliations

    • Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
    • ,
  • Juliana Barcellos de Souza

      Affiliations

    • Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
    • ,
  • Isabelle Gaumond

      Affiliations

    • Department of Health Sciences, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada
    • ,
  • Sylvain Grignon

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Psychiatry and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
    • ,
  • Serge Marchand

      Affiliations

    • Service of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests to Dr Serge Marchand, University of Sherbrooke, Faculty of Medicine, Axe Douleur CRC-CHUS, 3001, 12e Avenue Nord, Sherbrooke, Canada, J1H 5N4.

Received 14 August 2008; received in revised form 19 January 2009; accepted 18 March 2009. published online 25 May 2009.

Abstract 

Experimental studies showed that dopamine influences pain perception in healthy volunteers. Dopamine dysfunctions have been linked to the physiopathology of fibromyalgia (FM), which is associated with hyperalgesia and deficient pain inhibition. We sought to investigate the relationships between catecholamine-related polymorphisms [dopamine-D3 receptor (DRD3) Ser9Gly and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met] and thermal pain measures in healthy subjects and FM patients. Seventy-three subjects (37 FM patients and 36 controls) participated in this study. Thermal pain thresholds (TPTs) were measured using a Peltier thermode. Inhibitory systems were elicited using a thermal tonic pain stimulation administered before and after activation of the diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNIC) by means of a cold-pressor test. Genetic analyses were performed using polymerase chain reaction. Regression analyses were performed across and within groups. FM was associated with lower TPTs and deficient pain inhibition. DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism predicted (1) DNIC efficacy across groups and (2) thermal TPTs in FM patients. COMT Val158Met and thermal pain measures were not related. These preliminary results suggest that the DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism influences DNIC efficacy and TPTs and that this latter relationship is present only in FM patients. Two core psychophysical features of FM appear to be significantly influenced by limbic dopamine functioning.

Perspective

This experimental study is the first to relate DNIC and TPTs to a functional polymorphism of limbic dopamine-D3 receptors. As lowered pain thresholds and deficient pain inhibition are 2 core features of fibromyalgia, these preliminary results may help identify a subgroup of FM patients who require closer medical attention.

Key words: Chronic widespread pain, COMT, diffuse noxious inhibitory controls, DRD3, hyperalgesia

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 Drs Potvin and Larouche contributed equally to this work.

 Dr Marchand is holder of the Pain Chair from the University of Sherbrooke and UQAT and a supported member of the Centre de recherche clinique Étienne-Le Bel du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (Fonds de Recherche en Santé du Québec). Dr Potvin is holder of a postdoctoral scholarship from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR). Dr Marchand holds grants from the CIHR. Dr Grignon is a member of the Centre de Recherches Cliniques Etienne-Le Bel and of the Centre des Neurosciences de Sherbrooke. Genotyping studies were funded in part by an unrestricted grant from Novartis Canada to the Department of Psychiatry, Sherbrooke University.

PII: S1526-5900(09)00471-4

doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2009.03.013

The Journal of Pain
Volume 10, Issue 9 , Pages 969-975, September 2009

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