The Latency of Pricking-Pain Sensation: I. The Effect of Acetophenetidin and Anacin. II. The Effect of Repeated Stimulation

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Abstract
To investigate the effect of two analgesic dosages of acetophenetidin and of Anacin upon the latency of the pricking-pain sensation under conditions of single and repetitive stimulation of the skin, each of six trained male subjects participated in 12 120-minute sessions (each subject had two sessions with 1.0 gm and with 0.5 gm dosages of each drug, placebos, and no capsule). Threshold (latency) determinations were made every five minutes, each time on a different one of 24 numbered spots on the volar surfaces of the forearms. Concomitantly, Spot A on the left forearm was stimulated repeatedly every five minutes, and Spot B, on the right forearm, every 10 minutes. No analgesic effects were observed on pricking-pain latency. Analyses of variance showed no significant interaction, no consistent time effect, and no significant conditions effect that could be interpreted as resulting from drug action. Repetitive stimulation at five- and 10-minute intervals was thus alone responsible for the latency elevations observed on Spots A and B respectively. It was suggested that such repetitive stimulation may have contributed to an indeterminate extent to the positive results with analgesics reported by Hardy, Wolff, and Goodell (7).