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Assessment of Pain in Animals

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Animal Models of Pain

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 49))

Abstract

The assessment of pain is of critical importance for mechanistic studies as well as for the validation of drug targets. The study of pain in awake animals raises ethical, philosophical, and technical problems. Philosophically, there is the problem that pain cannot be monitored directly in animals but can only be estimated by examining their responses to nociceptive stimuli; however, such responses do not necessarily mean that there is a concomitant sensation. In this chapter, I highlight several types of nociceptive stimuli (thermal, mechanical, or chemical), which have been used in different pain models such as acute pain, chronic pain, arthritis pain, inflammatory, and visceral pain. The monitored reactions are almost always motor responses ranging from spinal reflexes to complex behaviors. Most have the weakness that they may be associated with, or modulated by, other physiological functions. The main methods are reviewed in terms of their sensitivity, specificity, and predictiveness. Although the neural basis of the most commonly used tests is poorly understood, their use will be more profitable if pain is considered within the framework of, rather than apart from, the body’s homeostatic mechanisms.

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Abbreviations

CCD:

Charge-coupled device

CNS:

Central nerve system

IASP:

International Association for the Study of Pain

LEDs:

Light-emitting diodes

PWL:

Paw withdrawal latency

PWT:

Paw withdrawal threshold

NK1:

Neurokinin 1

VAD:

Vocalization after discharge

VAS:

Visual analog scale

VDS:

Vocalization during stimulation

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Research Center, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Wenrui Xie

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  1. Wenrui Xie
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Anesthesiology, Yale University School of Medicine, Cedar Street 333, New Haven, 06520-8051, Connecticut, USA

    Chao Ma

  2. College of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Cincinnati, Albert Sabin Way 231, Cincinnati, 45267-0531, Ohio, USA

    Jun-Ming Zhang

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Xie, W. (2011). Assessment of Pain in Animals. In: Ma, C., Zhang, JM. (eds) Animal Models of Pain. Neuromethods, vol 49. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-880-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-880-5_1

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-60761-879-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-880-5

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