The Warmth, Anticipation, Sensation, Aversion, and Body-part Imaging Study

Part of paid clinical trials in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Sponsor
Trustees of Dartmouth College
Study ID
NCT04653064
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Pain

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Placebo Cream — BEHAVIORAL
    Approximately 1 teaspoon of exfoliating skin scrub delivered approximately 5 minutes prior to pain tasks will coincide with verbal descriptors of the cream as being analgesic.
  • Control Cream — BEHAVIORAL
    Approximately 1 teaspoon of exfoliating skin scrub delivered approximately 5 minutes prior to pain tasks will coincide with verbal descriptors of the cream as one of no effect.

Study Details

This functional magnetic-resonance imaging study of the brain will feature a within-subject crossover design to investigate the effects of a placebo cream on painful thermal stimulation rendered upon eight body sites. The investigators aim to 1.) improve the understanding of how the brain represents thermal pain responses somatotopically (i.e., across different body-sites) 2.) to test these brain representations with and without the presence of a pain-targeted placebo intervention, and 3.) to examine how these brain representations change prior to vs. during the delivery of thermal pain. They predict that placebo cream will downregulate the intensity of aversive brain activity representations, and to a lesser degree, sensation and somatotopic representations, both prior to and during painful thermal stimulation.

Key Dates

Start date
Mar 19, 2021
Status verified
Jan 2026
Primary completion
Feb 26, 2026
Completion
Dec 26, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
150 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: Placebo Cream first
    Each participant will undergo thermal pain tasks after being administered a "treatment" cream to one of eight body sites.
  • Experimental: Control Cream first
    Each participant will undergo thermal pain tasks after being administered a "control" cream to one of eight body sites.

Primary Outcome Measure

Contrasts of pain valence (i.e., unpleasantness) using the Bartoshuk Labeled Magnitude Scale (LMS) between body sites administered Placebo vs. Control Cream, both prior to and during pain delivery. [ Time Frame: Hour 2 of fMRI scanning, immediately after each pain delivery trial. ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Dartmouth CollegeHanoverNew Hampshire03755
Bethany Hunt, BA
[email protected]

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By research site
Dartmouth College· Hanover, NH

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