Journal of pharmacological and toxicological methods
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J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods · Jul 2012
Comparative StudyComparison of manual and automated filaments for evaluation of neuropathic pain behavior in rats.
The most commonly used Von Frey filaments are productive in evaluating behavioral responses of neuropathic pain in preclinical and clinical research. To reduce the potential experimenter bias, automated instruments are being developed for behavioral assessment. In preclinical research, neuropathic pain models of nerve injury with varied etiology like partial sciatic nerve ligation (PNL), chronic constricted injury (CCI) and spinal nerve ligation (SNL) are employed to screen the analgesic drugs to treat symptoms like allodynia and hyperalgesia. The current study was aimed to validate and compare conventionally used Von Frey monofilaments and automated dynamic plantar aesthesiometer using three different pain models. ⋯ Manually used Von Frey filaments can be used in assessment of mechanical allodynia in all the three models, whereas dynamic plantar aesthesiometer is suitable for assessing mechanical allodynia in SNL but not in PNL and CCI models. The reason for variable paw withdrawal thresholds during assessment of mechanical allodynia in PNL and CCI models with dynamic plantar aesthesiometer may be due to the paw deformity and change in foot posture.