Relationship of Female sex Hormones with Pain Perception: Focus on Estrogens

Abstract

SUMMARY The role of gonadal hormones has slowly gathered the right attention in the study of chronic pain mechanisms. The clear presence of sex differences in chronic pain and the number of studies showing the power of gonadal hormones to modify pain-induced behavioral responses appear to have convinced clinicians and researchers. Indeed, available data strongly indicate that more studies on gonadal hormones would certainly enhance the possibility of greatly increasing the knowledge of pain mechanisms and, thus, treatments. In the present article, old and new literature are summarized to evaluate data on pain and its modulation by gonadal hormones, particularly estrogens. Peripheral and central targets of these hormones are discussed with the aim of renewing interest in important aspects of estrogenic functions and their interactions with pain processes.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the University of Siena and MIUR for the contribution to Fondazione Emilio Bernardelli.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.