Animal models of pain: Diversity and benefits

Analgesic effect of central relaxin receptor activation on persistent inflammatory pain in mice: behavioral and neurochemical data

“…Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the possible effects of the relaxin-RXFP1 signaling system on pain processing in the brain. We used a mouse model of inflammatory persistent pain 1 to investigate any analgesic action of centrally administered relaxin peptides that selectively activate RXFP1. We also conducted a neuroanatomical characterization of the relaxin-RXFP1 system in brain areas involved in pain processing.…”

Painful Truth: The Need to Re-Center Chronic Pain on the Functional Role of Pain

“…In particular, the models of pain used in research should be appropriate for the given research questions and should consider whether they reflect functional and/or pathological pain. The strengths and limitations of animal models of pain have been debated, 51,[72][73][74][75] but these debates show that animal research has been critical in helping uncover what we know about the neurobiology of pain. However, although efforts are made to model behavioral, emotional and psychological aspects of the pain experience, animal models largely rely on a construct that is only a partial representation of pain 46 -nociception, and all of them rely on some noxious insult whether mechanical, chemical or surgical.…”

Exploiting Injury-Induced Peripheral Opioid Receptor Changes in Novel Analgesic Development for Chronic Pain

“…By way of example, the types of injuries that are commonly used to study potential treatments for neuropathic pain include placing ligatures around the sciatic nerve (chronic constriction injury; CCI), ligating a portion of the sciatic nerve (partial nerve injury; PNI), ligation of spinal nerves contributing to the sciatic nerve (spinal nerve ligation; SNL), and ligation of two of the three terminal branches of the sciatic nerve (spared nerve injury; SNI). These models develop on a different time courses, last different periods of time, result in differing degrees of evoked behaviors such as mechanical hyperalgesia, mechanical allodynia, and thermal hyperalgesia, and exhibit differences in spontaneous behaviors as well ( 34 ). A model focusing on the initiation of neuroinflammation without overt nerve injury has been proposed whereby the sciatic nerve is surrounded by a cuff that bathes the nerve in zymosan (Sciatic inflammatory neuritis; SIN).…”