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Operant Assays for Assessing Pain in Preclinical Rodent Models: Highlights from an Orofacial Assay

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Behavioral Neurobiology of Chronic Pain

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences ((CTBN,volume 20))

Abstract

Despite an immense investment of resources, pain remains at epidemic proportions. Given this, there has been an increased effort toward appraising the process by which new painkillers are developed, focusing specifically on why so few analgesics make it from the benchside to the bedside. The use of behavioral assays and animal modeling for the preclinical stages of analgesic development is being reexamined to determine whether they are truly relevant, meaningful, and predictive. Consequently, there is a strengthening consensus that the traditional reflex-based assays upon which several decades of preclinical pain research has been based are inadequate. Thus, investigators have recently turned to the development of new preclinical assays with improved face, content, and predictive validity. In this regard, operant pain assays show considerable promise, as they are more sensitive, present better validity, and, importantly, better encompass the psychological and affective dimensions of pain that trouble human pain sufferers. Here, we briefly compare and contrast reflex assays with operant assays, and we introduce a particular operant orofacial pain assay used in a variety of experiments to emphasize how operant pain assays can be applied to preclinical studies of pain.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NIH grants 5R44DA026220-03, 5R43DA026220-01, and 1R21 DA027570-01.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

    Niall P. Murphy

  2. Stoelting Company, Wood Dale, USA

    Richard H. Mills

  3. Department of Oral Surgery, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

    Robert M. Caudle

  4. Department of Orthodontics, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

    John K. Neubert

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  1. Niall P. Murphy
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  2. Richard H. Mills
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  3. Robert M. Caudle
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  4. John K. Neubert
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Correspondence to Niall P. Murphy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

    Bradley K. Taylor

  2. Centre for Pain Research, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    David P. Finn

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Murphy, N.P., Mills, R.H., Caudle, R.M., Neubert, J.K. (2014). Operant Assays for Assessing Pain in Preclinical Rodent Models: Highlights from an Orofacial Assay. In: Taylor, B., Finn, D. (eds) Behavioral Neurobiology of Chronic Pain. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 20. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2014_332

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