ArticlePain2020
Testosterone protects against the development of widespread muscle pain in mice.
Article in Pain, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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
28 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Changes in hormones and experimental pain sensitivity in healthy girls: an exploratory longitudinal pilot study.Pain reports · 2026Article
- Adiposity trajectory as a predictor of chronic and multisite pain in the transition from childhood to adolescence: A prospective study of a large birth cohort.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Review
- Exploring the Influence of Testosterone on Pain Perception and Modulation Among Men with Low and Normal Testosterone Concentrations.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Gender Differences Between Disability, Quality of Life, and Sedentary Behavior in Individuals with Chronic Non-Specific Neck Pain.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Sex differences in the transition to chronic pain.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- The role of androgens on experimental pain sensitivity: a systemic review and meta-analysis.Pain reports · 2025Review
- Review
- Global trends in low back pain and neck pain in the working population: implications for occupational health.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Carnosic acid prevents heat stress-induced oxidative damage by regulating heat-shock proteins and apoptotic proteins in mouse testis.Biological chemistry · 2024Article
- Pregabalin produces analgesia in males but not females in an animal model of chronic widespread muscle pain.Pain reports · 2024Article
- The influence of sex on neuroimmune communication, pain, and physiology.Biology of sex differences · 2024Review
- Article
- Brain-derived neurotrophic factor contributes to activity-induced muscle pain in male but not female mice.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Article
- Deciphering nociplastic pain: clinical features, risk factors and potential mechanisms.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2024Review
- Age- and Sex-Dependent Effects of Moderate Exercise on Endogenous Pain Inhibition in Rats.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Neuroactive Steroids, Toll-like Receptors, and Neuroimmune Regulation: Insights into Their Impact on Neuropsychiatric Disorders.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Topical application of a TRPA1 antagonist reduced nociception and inflammation in a model of traumatic muscle injury in rats.Inflammopharmacology · 2023Article
- Brain-derived neurotrophic factor contributes to activity-induced muscle pain in male but not female mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 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
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Chronic widespread pain conditions are more prevalent in women than men, suggesting a role for gonadal hormones in the observed differences. Previously, we showed that female mice, compared to male, develop widespread, more severe, and longer-duration hyperalgesia in a model of activity-induced muscle pain. We hypothesized testosterone protects males from developing the female pain phenotype. We tested whether orchiectomy of males before induction of an activity-induced pain model produced a female phenotype and whether testosterone administration produced a male phenotype in females. Orchiectomy produced longer-lasting, more widespread hyperalgesia, similar to females. Administration of testosterone to females or orchiectomized males produced unilateral, shorter-lasting hyperalgesia. Prior studies show that the serotonin transporter (SERT) is increased in the nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) in models of chronic pain, and that blockade of SERT in the NRM reduces hyperalgesia. We examined potential sex differences in the distribution of SERT across brain sites involved in nociceptive processing using immunohistochemistry. A sex difference in SERT was found in the NRM in the activity-induced pain model; females had greater SERT immunoreactivity than males. This suggests that testosterone protects against development of widespread, long-lasting muscle pain and that alterations in SERT may underlie the sex differences.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.