德國的一個(gè)研究團(tuán)隊(duì)發(fā)現(xiàn),，疼痛治療的信念可有效地降低脊髓的一個(gè)叫做背角的區(qū)域中的疼痛信號的傳遞,。該研究在10月16日的《科學(xué)》雜志報(bào)道了。在本期的Brevium中,，F(xiàn)alk Eippert及其同僚應(yīng)用功能性核磁共振成像（或稱fMRI）來觀察志愿者中脊髓活動(dòng)的變化。這些志愿者以為他們在參加一項(xiàng)麻醉性油膏的試驗(yàn)。
研究人員在志愿者的前臂上施予了會(huì)造成痛感的熱刺激,，并將認(rèn)為他們的手臂已經(jīng)接受利多卡因油膏治療或是以為接受一種無活性的"對照用"油膏治療時(shí)的志愿者的脊髓反應(yīng)進(jìn)行了比較,。（實(shí)際情況是，這兩種治療油膏是相同的,，它們都是無藥理活性的油膏,。） 結(jié)果顯示，當(dāng)志愿者認(rèn)為他們所接受的是利多卡因油膏的治療時(shí),，其脊髓背角中的神經(jīng)元活動(dòng)會(huì)有所下降,。 因此，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)為安慰劑效應(yīng)的產(chǎn)生至少有部分是因?yàn)閺哪X部下降至脊髓的疼痛抑制系統(tǒng)受到激活的這一假說提供了直接的證據(jù),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science 16 October 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1180142
Direct Evidence for Spinal Cord Involvement in Placebo Analgesia
Falk Eippert,1,* Jürgen Finsterbusch,1 Ulrike Bingel,2 Christian Büchel1
Placebo analgesia is a prime example of the impact that psychological factors have on pain perception. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging of the human spinal cord to test the hypothesis that placebo analgesia results in a reduction of nociceptive processing in the spinal cord. In line with behavioral data that show decreased pain responses under placebo, pain-related activity in the spinal cord is strongly reduced under placebo. These results provide direct evidence for spinal inhibition as one mechanism of placebo analgesia and highlight that psychological factors can act on the earliest stages of pain processing in the central nervous system.
1 Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
2 Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
