Chronic muscle pain affects 20-50% of the population, is more common in women than men, and is associated with increased pain during physical activity and exercise. Muscle fatigue is common in people with chronic muscle pain, occurs in response to exercise, and is associated with release of fatigue metabolites. Fatigue metabolites can sensitize muscle nociceptors, which could enhance pain with exercise. Using a mouse model we tested whether fatigue of a single muscle, induced by electrical stimulation, resulted in enhanced muscle hyperalgesia and if the enhanced hyperalgesia was more pronounced in female mice. Muscle fatigue was induced in combination with a sub-threshold muscle insult (2 injections of pH 5.0 saline) in male and female mice. We show that male and female mice, fatigued immediately prior to muscle insult in the same muscle, develop similar muscle hyperalgesia 24 hours later. However, female mice also develop hyperalgesia when muscle fatigue and muscle insult occur in different muscles, and when muscle insult is administered 24 hours after fatigue in the same muscle. Further, hyperalgesia lasts significantly longer in females. Finally, muscle insult with or without muscle fatigue results in minimal inflammatory changes in the muscle itself, and sex differences are not related to estradiol (ovariectomy) or changes in brainstem activity (pNR1). Thus, the current model mimics muscle fatigue-induced enhancement of pain observed in chronic muscle pain conditions in the human population. Interactions between fatigue and muscle insult may underlie the development of chronic widespread pain with an associated female predominance observed in human subjects.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
6
8%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
6
8%
Psychology
3
4%
Other
8
11%
Unknown
32
43%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 August 2022.
All research outputs
#4,836,393
of 34,359,530 outputs
Outputs from Pain (03043959)
#2,368
of 7,965 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#35,506
of 243,415 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Pain (03043959)
#22
of 114 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,359,530 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 85th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,965 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 16.5. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 243,415 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 114 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its contemporaries.
