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Laser-induced withdrawal test for electrophysiological recordings of nociception

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Abstract

CO2 lasers are often used in pain research. However, the stimulation parameters of the CO2 lasers, such as beam diameter, laser power, etc., used for these animal nociceptive studies vary across laboratories. The differences of the parameters usually make novices who want to reproduce the laser-evoked responses confused to follow. In this study, we quantitatively measured the laser-withdrawal reflex of the rat to ascertain the individual laser-withdrawal threshold and then found the thresholds were diverse among the rats we adopted. Furthermore, the optimal stimulation distance, the most conveniently modified stimulation parameter of CO2 laser stimuli, was also determined. We suggest that laser-withdrawal tests should be applied before the electrophysiological recordings in order to verify the efficiency of the induced nociception and substantiate the operational parameters of the CO2 laser device.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by NSC 97-2221-E-002-004-MY3. All experiments were carried out in accordance with the guidelines of the National Taiwan University College of Medicine and the College of Public Health Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) as well as the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NIH Publications No. 80-23). All efforts were made to minimize the number of animals required and to prevent any suffering.

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  1. Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yu-Chieh Kao & Fu-Shan Jaw

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  1. Yu-Chieh Kao
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  2. Fu-Shan Jaw
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Correspondence to Fu-Shan Jaw.

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Kao, YC., Jaw, FS. Laser-induced withdrawal test for electrophysiological recordings of nociception. J Comp Physiol A 198, 79–83 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-011-0686-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-011-0686-x

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