Scientists probe Brain's pain matrix in healthy volunteers
NCT ID NCT02446262
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Sep 11, 2026 · Updated 16 times
Summary
This study looks at how thoughts and expectations change the way we feel pain. Healthy volunteers aged 18-50 will have brain scans and receive mild pain (heat or electric shocks) while researchers measure their heart rate, sweat, and brain activity. The goal is to understand pain better, not to test a treatment.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 550 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jun 2015
- Expected to finish
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Feb 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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A government research agency
The lead sponsor is the US National Institutes of Health.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 50 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
* INCLUSION CRITERIA: * Healthy * Between 18 and 50 years old * Fluent in English * Able to provide written informed consent. EXCLUSION CRITERIA (all sub-studies): * Unable to comply with study procedures or follow-up visits. * Has a major medical condition or medical history that in a clinician's assessment could affect heat sensitivity, pain thresholds, or ability to comply with study procedures. This may include cardiovascular, autonomic, or neurological conditions, including stroke, blindness, deafness, a history of brain damage, or a chronic systemic disease (e.g., diabetes). * Has a current mood disorder, anxiety disorder, or substance use disorder, or has a history of psychosis, hospitalization for a mental health condition, or recurrent psychiatric episodes. * Has a medical condition that in a clinician's assessment might affect somatosensation (e.g., Raynaud's disease, peripheral neuropathy, or circulatory disorder). * Has a current chronic pain condition or has had chronic pain in the past (painful condition lasting more than six months). * Has a dermatological condition affecting the testing region such as scars, burns, or recent tattoos that might influence cutaneous sensibility. * Regular use of prescription medication that has a significant effect on pain or heat perception. Excluded medications include central-acting agents such as opiates (morphine, tramadol), antidepressants (amitriptyline, duloxetine, milnacipran), anticonvulsants (gabapentin, pregabalin), anxiolytics (barbituates, benzodiazepines), hypnotics (zolpidem, sodium oxybate), antipsychotics (valproate, lithium, olanzapine), antimigraine agents (sumatriptan, ergotamine), and muscle relaxants (cyclobenzaprine, carisoprodol). Use of analgesic medications, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, salicylates, and acetaminophen, taken on an "as needed" basis is acceptable as long as the last dose taken was within 5 half-lives of testing. * Is pregnant. * NIH staff member who is a subordinate/relative/co-worker of any investigator on the protocol. EXCLUSION CRITERIA (fMRI sub-studies): * Individuals with conditions that could pose a risk relating to the safety of the fMRI procedure or pain stimulation will be excluded from the MRI portion of the protocol, but may participate in the non-fMRI sessions (with the exception of pregnant women). Such conditions include: * Those with ferromagnetic metal in the cranial cavity or eye, e.g. aneurysm clip, implanted neural stimulator, cochlear implant, ocular foreign body. * Those with an abnormality on a structural MRI. * Those with an implanted cardiac pacemaker or auto-defibrillator. * Those with an insulin pump. * Those with irremovable body piercing. * Pregnant women (based on urine test completed within 24 hours prior to scan). * Individuals who are left-handed (based on self-report or score on handedness questionnaire) will be excluded from fMRI substudies. EXCLUSION CRITERIA (placebo analgesia sub-studies): -Participation in an NIH study of analgesia, as gleaned from CRIS.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
RECRUITINGBethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
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