• Kristof R Deseure and Hugo F Adriaensen.
• Laboratory of Anesthesiology, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
• Comparative Med. 2002 Feb 1; 52 (1): 44-9.

Background And PurposeChronic constriction injury to the rat infraorbital nerve (IoN-CCI) was reported to induce asymmetric face grooming directed to the territory of the injured nerve, and localized mechanical allodynia. The model has been used for pharmacologic testing; responsiveness to mechanical stimulation has been used as outcome measure, but face grooming behavior was not studied in this context.MethodsFace grooming data from a series of four experiments using the IoN-CCI model were retrospectively analyzed, and two types of face grooming were identified: on the one hand, isolated face grooming (i.e., face grooming that is neither preceded nor followed by body grooming); and on the other hand, face grooming during body grooming (i.e., face grooming that is part of more general body grooming behavior).ResultsIn all four experiments, amount of isolated face grooming was found to be significantly increased after IoN-CCI. In contrast, the amount of face grooming during body grooming was not significantly altered after IoN-CCI in any of the four experiments.ConclusionsThe amount of isolated face grooming is a more sensitive outcome measure of neuropathic pain than is the total amount of face grooming, which includes face grooming during body grooming.

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