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Effect of Temperature on Pain and Brown Adipose Activity in Fibromyalgia

NCT01322425 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 24

Last updated 2014-08-20

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The pathophysiology of pain related to fibromyalgia is not understood. This condition is difficult to diagnose and to treat. One clue may be that tender points (areas which hurt typical of fibromyalgia) are most densely located near the clavicles. This is also the area where brown fat is located in humans. Brown fat is typically used to maintain body temperature. Stress (such as cool temperature or special diets, i.e., high fat, low carbohydrate) appears to worsen the pain seen in fibromyalgia. We hypothesize that a mechanism for pain in this disease relates to activating brown fat through neural mechanisms. The nerves to brown fat also go into adjacent muscle and skin. So, when brown fat is turned on or increases in amount, collateral nerves may cause pain at the tender points.

The central hypothesis is that stress such as temperature or diet will activate brown fat. Patients with fibromyalgia will have greater activation or volume of brown fat. Neuralgia related to stress may be the etiology of the pain. If this hypothesis is proven, there are several drugs on the market that could be deployed to correct these patients' problems. Therefore, this project, if successful, will lead to clinical trials of these drugs in fibromyalgia patients.

Conditions

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Alice A. Larson, Ph.D. · University of Minnesota

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
50 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2010-07-31
Primary Completion
2014-07-31
Completion
2014-07-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases
Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01322425 on ClinicalTrials.gov