Table 2.
Pain psychophysical measures and serum markers of neuroplasticity state at treatment end according to melatonin or placebo groups.
| Placebo (n = 18) | Melatonin | P -value* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) | Δ-value | Mean (SD) | Δ-value | ||
| Primary outcome | |||||
| Conditional pain modulation: change on NPS (0–10) during CPM-task | |||||
| Baseline | −1.81 (1.67) | −1.91(1.60) | −0.94 (1.61) | −3.25 (1.61) | <0.001 |
| End treatment | −0.10 (1.52) | −2.29 (1.61) | |||
| Secondary outcomes | |||||
| Heat pain threshold | |||||
| Baseline | 40.99 (2.52) | −3.05 (2.74) | 38.47 (2.58) | 2.46 (1.98) | <0.001 |
| End treatment | 37.94 (2.99) | 40.99 (1.92) | |||
| Heat pain tolerance | |||||
| Baseline | 49.78 (2.62) | −1.18 (1.95) | 49.01 (2.66) | 1.32 (2.07) | 0.001 |
| End treatment | 48.59 (2.96) | 50.33 (1.79) | |||
| Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) | |||||
| Baseline | 40.88 (23.78) | 1.87 (7.17) | 41.65 (17.72) | −20.44 (17.17) | <0.001 |
| End treatment | 42.76 (17.75) | 21.31 (7.18) | |||
| Tropomyosin kinase receptor b (TrkB) | |||||
| Baseline | 0.47 (0.50) | 0.46 (0.17) | 0.56 (0.39) | −0.15 (0.18) | 0.003 |
| End treatment | 0.52 (0.46) | 0.41 (0.37) | |||
| S100 calcium binding protein B protein (S100B) | |||||
| Baseline | 33.21 (9.25) | 2.89 (11.18) | 38.17 (12.42) | −11.16 (9.75) | <0.001 |
| End treatment | 36.11 (12.19) | 26.96 (8.45) | |||
| Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Assessment | |||||
| Baseline | 8.44 (2.83) | 2.83 (2.31) | 8.24 (3.98) | −3.18 (2.01) | <0.001 |
| End treatment | 11.06 (3.35) | 5.06 (3.34) | |||
| Beck Depression Inventory II | |||||
| Baseline | 10.83 (5.11) | 3.72 (5.21) | 11.41 (7.73) | −4.71 (5.83); | <0.001 |
| End treatment | 14.56 (7.76) | 6.41 (4.57) | |||
*Correspond to comparisons of Δ-value by the t-test for independent sample. Data are presented as the mean prior, posttreatment and Δ-value (post minus prior) and standard deviation (SD) (n = 36).