Eight healthy participants were included in this randomized and balanced double blind
cross-over study. They were injected two times, once with the active component and once with
placebo. Participants were recruited by advertising and screened through questionnaires and a
health examination by a physician. They were asked not to engage in strenuous physical
activities, sleep regular hours and refrain from alcohol the day before the experiment. If
the participants felt ill, e.g. coming down with a cold, they were instructed to call and
were rescheduled for a later appointment. C-reactive protein (CRP) was assessed to exclude
participants having an ongoing infection on the experimental day. Pregnancy was also an
exclusion criteria and a pregnancy test was administered for all female participants on
arrival. Several pain sensitivity measures were performed baseline and at peak inflammatory
response 1-2 hours after injection. Subjects filled out questionnaires at baseline, 90
minutes and 4,5 hours after injection.
The study and the procedures used in the study are described in detail here:
https://openarchive.ki.se/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10616/44650/Thesis_Bianka_Karshikoff.pdf?seq
uence=8&isAllowed=y
The following papers have been published using data from this study:
Olsson MJ, Lundstrom JN, Kimball BA, Gordon AR, Karshikoff B, Hosseini N, Sorjonen K, Olgart
Hoglund C, Solares C, Soop A, Axelsson J & Lekander M. The Scent of Disease: Human Body Odor
Contains an Early Chemosensory Cue of Sickness. Psychol Sci. 2014 Jan 22.
Sundelin T, Karshikoff B, Axelsson E, Hoglund CO, Lekander M, Axelsson J. Sick man walking:
Perception of health status from body motion. Brain Behav Immun. 2015;48:53-6.
Karshikoff B, Lekander M, Soop A, Lindstedt F, Ingvar M Kosek E, Olgart Höglund C, & Axelsson
J. Modality and sex differences in pain sensitivity during human endotoxemia. Brain,
Behavior, and Immunity. 2015 May;46:35-43