Animal models of nociception pharmacological reviews

The study of pain in awake animals raises ethical, philosophical, and technical problems. We review the ethical standards for studying pain in animals and emphasize that there are scientific as well as moral reasons for keeping to them. 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...

Animal models and experimental tests to study nociception and pain are important because they are the major tools that make studying nociception and pain possible. It would not be an exaggeration to say that progress on pain research has been made only to the degree that these essential research tools are available.

Among the oldest and the most commonly used nociceptive tests would be the tail flick test that was developed by D’Amour and Smith in 1941 [D’Amour and Smith ]. This is a test for acute pain in normal rodents, and since then many other tests and models, focused primarily on chronic or persistent pain, have been developed. Availability of these tests and models enabled research on persistent pain to flourish during recent decades. The present section documents the majority of commonly used animal models and experimental tests.

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Tests for Nociception and Pain

Nociceptive tests utilize observations of animal behavior after...

References

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University Chair in Neuroscience, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA Jin Mo Chung

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1. Jin Mo Chung You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

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Editors and Affiliations

1. Department of Anesthesiology, Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Gerald F. Gebhart
2. Physiologisches Institut der, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany Robert F. Schmidt

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Chung, J.M. [2013]. Animal Models and Experimental Tests to Study Nociception and Pain. In: Gebhart, G.F., Schmidt, R.F. [eds] Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. //doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28753-4_225

Why animal models are used in pharmacological experiments?

Animal models [e.g., mice, rats, zebrafish and others] are sufficiently like humans in their anatomy, physiology or response to a pathogen that researchers can extrapolate the results of animal model studies to better understand human physiology and disease.

What are the model animals in the pharmaceutical industry?

What Kinds of Animals Are Used in Research? At Pfizer, 99% of the animals in our care are rats and mice. Other species include rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, ferrets, dogs, and non-human primates.

What are the animal models for screening?

Animal models are experimental preparations developed in one species for the purpose of studying phenomena occurring in another species, and such models may be valid if they have the same structure as the human behavior or pathology.

What other animal tests can be used to assess chemical nociception?

The tail flick assay or tail flick test uses a high-intensity beam of light aimed at a rodent's tail to detect nociception. In normal rodents, the noxious heat sensation induced by the beam of light causes a prototypical movement of the tail via the flexor withdrawal reflex.