ArticlePloS one2014
Dopamine precursor depletion influences pain affect rather than pain sensation.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dopamine has no direct causal role in the formation of treatment expectations and placebo analgesia in humans.PLoS biology · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Dopamine transporter gene (Pain reports · 2026Article
- Neuromodulation of Dopamine D2 Receptors Alters Orbitofrontal Neuronal Activity and Reduces Risk-Prone Behavior in Male Rats with Inflammatory Pain.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Exploring Nepicastat Activity: Beyond DβH.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Modulation of comorbid depression of neuropathic pain by dopamine input from VTA to the ventral hippocampus.Theranostics · 2025Article
- Interindividual variability and individual stability of pain- and touch-related neuronal gamma oscillations.Journal of neurophysiology · 2023Article
- The Neurobiology of Pathological Fatigue: New Models, New Questions.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2022Article
- Altered Pain Processing Associated with Administration of Dopamine Agonist and Antagonist in Healthy Volunteers.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Pain in Parkinson's disease and the role of the subthalamic nucleus.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2021Review
- The Distinct Functions of Dopaminergic Receptors on Pain Modulation: A Narrative Review.Neural plasticity · 2021Review
- Striatal hypofunction as a neural correlate of mood alterations in chronic pain patients.NeuroImage · 2020Article
- Real-Time Accumbal Dopamine Response to Negative Stimuli: Effects of Ethanol.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2019Article
- The risk for problematic opioid use in chronic pain: What can we learn from studies of pain and reward?Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2018Review
- Subliminal (latent) processing of pain and its evolution to conscious awareness.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2018Review
- Pain Modulation: From Conditioned Pain Modulation to Placebo and Nocebo Effects in Experimental and Clinical Pain.International review of neurobiology · 2018Review
- Neurobiological Correlates of Pain Avoidance-Like Behavior in Morphine-Dependent and Non-Dependent Rats.Neuroscience · 2017Article
- Neural Habituation to Painful Stimuli Is Modulated by Dopamine: Evidence from a Pharmacological fMRI Study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2017Article
- The Link between Depression and Chronic Pain: Neural Mechanisms in the Brain.Neural plasticity · 2017Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pain is a multidimensional experience, which includes sensory, cognitive, and affective aspects. Converging lines of evidence indicate that dopaminergic neurotransmission plays an important role in human pain perception. However, the precise effects of dopamine on different aspects of pain perception remain to be elucidated. To address this question, we experimentally decreased dopaminergic neurotransmission in 22 healthy human subjects using Acute Phenylalanine and Tyrosine Depletion (APTD). During APTD and a control condition we applied brief painful laser stimuli to the hand, assessed different aspects of pain perception, and recorded electroencephalographic responses. APTD-induced decreases of cerebral dopaminergic activity did not influence sensory aspects of pain perception. In contrast, APTD yielded increases of pain unpleasantness. The increases of unpleasantness ratings positively correlated with effectiveness of APTD. Our finding of an influence of dopaminergic neurotransmission on affective but not sensory aspects of phasic pain suggests that analgesic effects of dopamine might be mediated by indirect effects on pain affect rather than by direct effects on ascending nociceptive signals. These findings contribute to our understanding of the complex relationship between dopamine and pain perception, which may play a role in various clinical pain states.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.