The Utility of Grimace Scales for Practical Pain Assessment in Laboratory Animals

Mota-Rojas, Daniel; Olmos-Hernández, Adriana; Verduzco-Mendozab, Antonio; Trujillo, Elein Hernández; Martı́nez-Burnes, Julio; Whittaker, Alexandra L.

doi:10.20944/preprints202009.0101.v1

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Retrospective scoring brings some key advantages when using the MGS as a research outcome measure. These methods provide a greater degree of certainty in the findings by allowing for the possibility of re-confirming scores and thus replicating the data, utilising multiple observers for cross-checking, and allowing scoring to occur at a time that suits the researcher [ 6 ]. This can all occur without the potential modulating influence on the scores of a human observer [ 65 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pain is an important issue in animal research for several reasons [ 6 ]. Firstly, in recent years, there has been growing concern about translational failures from animal studies to the clinic [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There have been a number of reviews on grimace scales in a variety of species [ 6 , 16 , 21 , 22 ], but none that focussed solely on mice or used systematic methods to identify all studies where the MGS was utilised. Now, 10 years on from the publication of the original study, a comprehensive systematic assimilation of the evidence on the MGS is warranted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methods Used and Application of the Mouse Grimace Scale in Biomedical Research 10 Years on: A Scoping Review

Whittaker

Liu

Barker

2021

Animals

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The Mouse Grimace Scale (MGS) was developed 10 years ago as a method for assessing pain through the characterisation of changes in five facial features or action units. The strength of the technique is that it is proposed to be a measure of spontaneous or non-evoked pain. The time is opportune to map all of the research into the MGS, with a particular focus on the methods used and the technique’s utility across a range of mouse models. A comprehensive scoping review of the academic literature was performed. A total of 48 articles met our inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The MGS has been employed mainly in the evaluation of acute pain, particularly in the pain and neuroscience research fields. There has, however, been use of the technique in a wide range of fields, and based on limited study it does appear to have utility for pain assessment across a spectrum of animal models. Use of the method allows the detection of pain of a longer duration, up to a month post initial insult. There has been less use of the technique using real-time methods and this is an area in need of further research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methods Used and Application of the Mouse Grimace Scale in Biomedical Research 10 Years on: A Scoping Review

Whittaker

Liu

Barker

2021

Animals

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“…In short, experimental animals are indispensable in multiple areas of life science and have made significant contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge and enhancement of people's quality of life. Although most people understand and appreciate the need for animal-based research, the welfare of laboratory animals and the ethics of their use has become a recognized issue and widespread concern worldwide ( 6 – 8 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An investigation of the perceptions of laboratory animal welfare issues among undergraduate and graduate veterinary students in southeastern China

Yan,

Li,

Lin

et al. 2024

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Animal experiments have played a significant role in advancing scientific knowledge and enhancing people's quality of life. In order to better understand the opinions and knowledge of veterinary students in the domain of laboratory animal welfare and to explore and advance the teaching methods used in animal ethics education, a questionnaire was designed and used to conduct a survey among undergraduate and postgraduate students majoring in veterinary medicine. The survey encompassed various topics, such as students' level of knowledge about animal welfare, their perspectives on laboratory animals, their proficiency with animal experiments, and their opinions on teaching methods and content. The respondents were a total of 150 undergraduate students and 148 graduate students. The survey results indicated that most students expressed a strong sense of responsibility for the safeguarding of the welfare of experimental animals. However, there were a few students who lacked compassion for animals. Additionally, there was a general lack of basic theoretical knowledge of animal ethics and an inadequate grasp of experimental techniques among current students. Furthermore, most of the participants expressed a strong sense of responsibility to advocate for animal welfare. Although a substantial number of students were unaware of the existence of agencies for the supervision of work involving laboratory animals, they supported teaching and supervision in the domain of animal welfare and were open to various teaching methods and topics of content. In conclusion, targeted training and education regarding laboratory animal welfare and ethics should be conducted in the future to address the specific needs of students. This study provides a foundation for future animal welfare education and will help to improve the professional skills and humanistic qualities of veterinary students.

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“…The understanding of expressions related to stress and pain is impactful in animal agriculture. Animals used for food production often produce higher quality products when they do not experience unpleasant emotions [17]. The detection of individual animals experiencing stress allows for the early identification of medical complications as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Happy Cow or Thinking Pig? WUR Wolf – Facial Coding Platform for Measuring Emotions in Farm Animals

Neethirajan

2021

Preprint

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Emotions play an indicative and informative role in the investigation of farm animal behaviors. Systems that respond and can measure emotions provide a natural user interface in enabling the digitalization of animal welfare platforms. The faces of farm animals can be one of the richest channels for expressing emotions. We present WUR Wolf (Wageningen University & Research: Wolf Mascot)a real-time facial expression recognition platform that can automatically code the emotions of farm animals. Using Python-based algorithms, we detect and track the facial features of cows and pigs, analyze the appearance, ear postures, and eye white regions, and correlate with the mental/emotional states of the farm animals. The system is trained on dataset of facial features of images of the farm animals collected in over 6 farms and has been optimized to operate with an average accuracy of 85%. From these, we infer the emotional states of animals in real time. The software detects 13 facial actions and 9 emotional states, including whether the animal is ag-gressive, calm, or neutral. A real-time emotion recognition system based on YoloV3, and Faster YoloV4-based facial detection platform and an ensemble Convolutional Neural Networks (RCNN) is presented. Detecting expressions of farm animals simultaneously in real time makes many new interfaces for automated decision-making tools possible for livestock farmers. Emotions sensing offers a vast amount of potential for improving animal welfare and animal-human interactions.

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The Utility of Grimace Scales for Practical Pain Assessment in Laboratory Animals

Cited by 14 publications

References 81 publications

Methods Used and Application of the Mouse Grimace Scale in Biomedical Research 10 Years on: A Scoping Review

Methods Used and Application of the Mouse Grimace Scale in Biomedical Research 10 Years on: A Scoping Review

An investigation of the perceptions of laboratory animal welfare issues among undergraduate and graduate veterinary students in southeastern China

Happy Cow or Thinking Pig? WUR Wolf – Facial Coding Platform for Measuring Emotions in Farm Animals

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