Journal of neuroscience methods
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J. Neurosci. Methods · Jul 2015
Comparative StudyA novel method for delivering ramped cooling reveals rat behaviours at innocuous and noxious temperatures: A comparative study of human psychophysics and rat behaviour.
Thermal sensory testing in rodents informs human pain research. There are important differences in the methodology for delivering thermal stimuli to humans and rodents. This is particularly true in cold pain research. These differences confound extrapolation and de-value nociceptive tests in rodents. ⋯ Brief paw removal in the rat is driven by non-nociceptive afferents, as is the perception of cooling in humans. This is in contrast to the nociceptor-driven withdrawal from colder temperatures. These findings have important implications for the interpretation of data generated in older cold pain models and consequently our understanding of cold perception and pain.