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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Using the Activity-based Anorexia Rodent Model to Study the Neurobiological Basis of Anorexia Nervosa
Published on: October 22, 2015
Pain modulation role of melatonin in eating disorders
H Papezová1, A Yamamotová, J Nedvídková
1Department of Psychiatry, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University Prague, Ke Karlovu 11, 12821 Prague 2, Czech Republic. hpap@mbox.cesnet.cz
Abstract:
The objective of this study was to test the effect of melatonin on thermal pain threshold in female patients with eating disorders. Fourteen patients were included in the study. We found a parabolic relation between pain threshold and the content of urine sulfatoxymelatonin (r = 0.6299, P < 0.05). We can speculate that increase in severity of eating disorder pathology may decrease both the melatonin level and pain sensitivity. In contrast with expected melatonin analgesic effect, our results showed its possible normalizing influence as well on pathologically decreased pain sensitivity.
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