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Updated: Apr 28, 2026
Assessment of Morphine-induced Hyperalgesia and Analgesic Tolerance in Mice Using Thermal and Mechanical Nociceptive Modalities
Published on: July 29, 2014
A randomized, controlled, clinical pilot study assessing the analgesic effect of morphine applied topically onto
Ruth Zaslansky1, Ohad Ben-Nun, Sima Ben-Shitrit
1Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Objectives:
To assess the effect of an opioid administered topically onto a standardized skin wound in patients without significant comorbidity. Findings to date are contradictory, often obtained from multimorbid patients with wounds lacking uniformity.
Methods:
Forty-four patients undergoing surgery for skin grafting were randomly assigned to receive morphine (0.25, 0.75 or 1.25 mg/100 cm(2) wound size) in hydroxyethylcellulose gel or placebo applied onto the excised split-thickness donor wound at the end of surgery. Pain, supplementary systemic opioids and adverse effects were assessed during the first 24 h after application. Healing was examined when the dressings were removed.
Key Findings:
Morphine doses ranged from 0.25 to 5.4 mg (mean 1.93 ± standard deviation 1.34 mg). No differences in pain scores or use of supplementary analgesics were found between the groups. Serious adverse effects did not occur; healing was not impaired. Large intragroup variability was observed for pain scores, wound sizes and supplementary analgesia.
Conclusions:
Patients treated with topically applied morphine gel onto standardized skin wounds did not report lower pain scores compared with placebo-treated patients. Larger groups would be required to arrive at definitive conclusions. The split-thickness skin graft model can be used for future research.
