Trial reportPloS one2014
Building up analgesia in humans via the endogenous μ-opioid system by combining placebo and active tDCS: a preliminary report.
Trial report in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcranial direct current stimulation combined with exercise therapy for chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Noninvasive brain stimulation combined with exercise in chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Expert review of neurotherapeutics · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Trial
- Independent effects of transcranial direct current stimulation and social influence on pain.Pain · 2025Trial
- Evidence and sources of placebo effects in transcranial direct current stimulation during a single session of visuospatial working memory practice.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Exploring HD-tDCS Effect on μ-opioid Receptor and Pain Sensitivity in Temporomandibular Disorder: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial Study.The journal of pain · 2024Trial
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Signal Variability Is Associated With Neuromodulation in Fibromyalgia.Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society · 2023Trial
- Active and sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved quality of life in female patients with fibromyalgia.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022Trial
- High-Definition and Non-invasive Brain Modulation of Pain and Motor Dysfunction in Chronic TMD.Brain stimulationTrial
- Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Versus Sham Stimulation on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Clinical Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Top-down control of the descending pain modulatory system drives multimodal placebo analgesia.Neuron · 2026Article
- Article
- Opioid- and NMDA-receptor-dependent neural plasticity mediates long-term analgesia from motor cortical stimulation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation for Core Symptoms of Chronic Primary Pain: A Meta-Analysis of RCTs.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- The Effectiveness of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in Improving Performance in Soccer Players-A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Live Effects of Anodal and Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Brain Metabolism in a Patient with Typical Hemorrhagic Stroke: A Case Study.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Transcranial direct current stimulation alleviates the pain severity in people suffering from knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Pain reports · 2025Review
- Neurocircuitry basis of motor cortex-related analgesia as an emerging approach for chronic pain management.Nature. Mental health · 2024Article
- Transcranial direct-current stimulation over the motor cortex in patients suffering from anxiety and depression related to rheumatoid arthritis: Study protocol for a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a method of non-invasive brain stimulation that has been frequently used in experimental and clinical pain studies. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying tDCS-mediated pain control, and most important its placebo component, are not completely established. In this pilot study, we investigated in vivo the involvement of the endogenous μ-opioid system in the global tDCS-analgesia experience. Nine healthy volunteers went through positron emission tomography (PET) scans with [11C]carfentanil, a selective μ-opioid receptor (MOR) radiotracer, to measure the central MOR activity during tDCS in vivo (non-displaceable binding potential, BPND)--one of the main analgesic mechanisms in the brain. Placebo and real anodal primary motor cortex (M1/2mA) tDCS were delivered sequentially for 20 minutes each during the PET scan. The initial placebo tDCS phase induced a decrease in MOR BPND in the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG), precuneus, and thalamus, indicating activation of endogenous μ-opioid neurotransmission, even before the active tDCS. The subsequent real tDCS also induced MOR activation in the PAG and precuneus, which were positively correlated to the changes observed with placebo tDCS. Nonetheless, real tDCS had an additional MOR activation in the left prefrontal cortex. Although significant changes in the MOR BPND occurred with both placebo and real tDCS, significant analgesic effects, measured by improvements in the heat and cold pain thresholds, were only observed after real tDCS, not the placebo tDCS. This study gives preliminary evidence that the analgesic effects reported with M1-tDCS, can be in part related to the recruitment of the same endogenous MOR mechanisms induced by placebo, and that such effects can be purposely optimized by real tDCS.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.