Opioid receptoractivity in CSF from an atypical lower back pain patient

One patient's lumbar CSF sample out of 54 studied for lower back pain had an atypical metabolic profile of opioid receptoractivity. To test our hypothesis that neuropeptides play a role in human lower back pain, endogenous opioid receptoractivity was compared between a control and that atypical sample. Two lumbar puncture samples were obtained from those two patients, one before and one after clinical evaluation. Total opioid receptoractivity was measured in each sample before HPLC separation, and opioid receptoractivity was measured in each fraction after HPLC separation. The latter data represent a metabolic profile of opioid receptoractivity in the human lumbar CSF. Those data demonstrate that the atypical patient had opioid receptoractivity measurements (total and profile) differing in a qualitative and quantitative sense from the other 53 patients studied. CSF opioid receptoractivity reflects the metabolism of opioid neuropeptidergic systems in the physiology in those patients, and opioid peptides may play a role in lower back pain.