Effects of salmon calcitonin on somatosensory evoked potentials

Abstract

Besides its Ca++ regulative effects, calcitonin is known to diminish sensitivity to painful stimuli. The present study aims to clarify whether calcitonin has similar effects on stimulus processing in other modalities. The study was performed according to a double-blind and placebo controlled protocol. Sixteen patients with osteoporosis were given intramuscularly 100 IU salmon calcitonin (sCT) or 1 ml saline solution as placebo, randomly on first and fifteenth days. One hour after injection, SEP's were recorded at the scalp, following right posterior tibial nerve stimulations at the ankle. Latencies of wave-form modalities and amplitude did not differ between sCT and placebo groups (p>0.05). However, latency differences of N42-N65 (?LAT) and area were significantly prolonged in sCT group (p<0.05). As a result we can speculate that sCT can change some SEP modalities which can be interpreted as the central effects of sCT.