Animal experiments have produced an explosion of information about pain, but this knowledge has failed to yield new painkillers for use in humans. This abysmal track record has led to calls to overhaul the design of preclinical studies. Elie Dolgin goes to great pains to learn how monitoring rodents' facial expressions and brain activity might offer a more effective and humane way to test drug candidates.
References
Finnerup, N.B., Sindrup, S.H. & Jensen, T.S. Pain 150, 573–581 (2010).
Langford, D.J. et al. Science 312, 1967–1970 (2006).
Langford, D.J. et al. Nat. Methods 7, 447–449 (2010).
Darwin, C. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (Albemarle, 1872).
Heindl-Erdmann, C. et al. Neuroreport 21, 29–33 (2010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dolgin, E. Animalgesic effects. Nat Med 16, 1237–1240 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1110-1237
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1110-1237
- Springer Nature America, Inc.
This article is cited by
-
Three-dimensional analysis of the characteristics of joint motion and gait pattern in a rodent model following spinal nerve ligation
BioMedical Engineering OnLine (2021)
-
Concurrent validity of different functional and neuroproteomic pain assessment methods in the rat osteoarthritis monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) model
Arthritis Research & Therapy (2016)