• Kevin A Keay, Claudia R Monassi, Dane B Levison, and Richard Bandler.
• Department of Anatomy and Histology (F13), The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
• Neurosci. Lett. 2004 May 6;361(1-3):188-91.

AbstractChronic pain conditions for which treatment is sought are characterized usually by complex behavioural disturbances as well as pain. We review here evidence that although chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve evokes allodynia and hyperalgesia in all rats, persistent social behavioural and sleep disruption occurs only in a subpopulation of animals. The finding that the 'degree of pain', as defined by allodynia and hyperalgesia, is the same in all animals suggests that the complex behavioural disabilities are independent of the level of sensory dysfunction. An absence of correlation between disability and sensory dysfunction is characteristic also of human neuropathic pain. These findings indicate that: (i). in a subpopulation of rats sciatic injury evokes disabilities characteristic of human neuropathic pain conditions; and (ii). testing for sensory dysfunction alone cannot detect this subpopulation.

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