An increased response to experimental muscle pain is related to psychological status in women with chronic non-traumatic neck-shoulder pain

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neck-shoulder pain conditions, e.g., chronic trapezius myalgia, have been associated with sensory disturbances such as increased sensitivity to experimentally induced pain. This study investigated pain sensitivity in terms of bilateral pressure pain thresholds over the trapezius and tibialis anterior muscles and pain responses after a unilateral hypertonic saline infusion into the right legs tibialis anterior muscle and related those parameters to intensity and area size of the clinical pain and to psychological factors (sleeping problems, depression, anxiety, catastrophizing and fear-avoidance).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nineteen women with chronic non-traumatic neck-shoulder pain but without simultaneous anatomically widespread clinical pain (NSP) and 30 age-matched pain-free female control subjects (CON) participated in the study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>NSP had lower pressure pain thresholds over the trapezius and over the tibialis anterior muscles and experienced hypertonic saline-evoked pain in the tibialis anterior muscle to be significantly more intense and locally more widespread than CON. More intense symptoms of anxiety and depression together with a higher disability level were associated with increased pain responses to experimental pain induction and a larger area size of the clinical neck-shoulder pain at its worst.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicate that central mechanisms e.g., central sensitization and altered descending control, are involved in chronic neck-shoulder pain since sensory hypersensitivity was found in areas distant to the site of clinical pain. Psychological status was found to interact with the perception, intensity, duration and distribution of induced pain (hypertonic saline) together with the spreading of clinical pain. The duration and intensity of pain correlated negatively with pressure pain thresholds.</p

Caucasian Dragonheads: Phenolic Compounds, Polysaccharides, and Bioactivity of Dracocephalum austriacum and Dracocephalum botryoides

Dracocephalum botryoides Steven and Dracocephalum austriacum L. are unexplored species of the Dracocephalum genus (Lamiaceae family) with a distribution in the Caucasus, where they are used in folk medicine and local cuisine. There are no data on the chemical composition of these Dracocephalum species. In this study, the application of a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technique for the metabolite profiling of methanol extracts from herbs and roots of D. austriacum and D. botryoides resulted in the identification of 50 compounds, including benzoic acid derivatives, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids and lignans. Water-soluble polysaccharides of the herbs and roots of D. austriacum and D. botryoides were isolated and characterized as mostly pectins with additive arabinogalactan-protein complexes and starch-like compounds. The antioxidant potential of the studied extracts of Dracocephalum and selected phenolics and water-soluble polysaccharides were investigated via radical-scavenging and ferrous (II) ion chelating assays. This paper demonstrates that herbs and roots of D. austriacum and D. botryoides are rich sources of metabolites and could be valuable plants for new biologically active products. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of whole plant metabolites and their antioxidant activity in D. austriacum and D. botryoides

Caffeoylquinic Acids and Flavonoids of Fringed Sagewort (Artemisia frigida Willd.): HPLC-DAD-ESI-QQQ-MS Profile, HPLC-DAD Quantification, in Vitro Digestion Stability, and Antioxidant Capacity

Fringed sagewort (Artemisia frigida Willd., Compositae family) is a well-known medicinal plant in Asian medical systems. Fifty-nine hydroxycinnamates and flavonoids have been found in A. frigida herbs of Siberian origin by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array and electrospray triple quadrupole mass detection (HPLC-DAD-ESI-QQQ-MS). Their structures were determined after mass fragmentation analysis as caffeoylquinic acids, flavone O-/C-glycosides, flavones, and flavonol aglycones. Most of the discovered components were described in A. frigida for the first time. It was shown that flavonoids with different types of substitution have chemotaxonomic significance for species of Artemisia subsection Frigidae (section Absinthium). After HPLC-DAD quantification of 16 major phenolics in 21 Siberian populations of A. frigida and subsequent principal component analysis, we found substantial variation in the selected compounds, suggesting the existence of two geographical groups of A. frigida. The antioxidant activity of A. frigida herbal tea was determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical (DPPH&bull;) and hydrophilic/lipophilic oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays and DPPH&bull;-HPLC profiling, revealing it to be high. The effect of digestive media on the phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity of A. frigida herbal tea was assessed under simulated gastrointestinal digestion. We found a minor reduction in caffeoylquinic acid content and ORAC values, but remaining levels were satisfactory for antioxidant protection. These results suggest that A. frigida and its food derivate herbal tea could be recommended as new plant antioxidants rich in phenolics