Mol Pain
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We recently demonstrated the utility of quantifying spontaneous pain in mice via the blinded coding of facial expressions. As the majority of preclinical pain research is in fact performed in the laboratory rat, we attempted to modify the scale for use in this species. ⋯ In addition, we have developed software, Rodent Face Finder®, which successfully automates the most labor-intensive step in the process. Given the known mechanistic dissociations between spontaneous and evoked pain, and the primacy of the former as a clinical problem, we believe that widespread adoption of spontaneous pain measures such as the Rat Grimace Scale might lead to more successful translation of basic science findings into clinical application.
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Animal models of chronic pain are widely used to investigate basic mechanisms of chronic pain and to evaluate potential novel drugs for treating chronic pain. Among the different criteria used to measure chronic pain, behavioral responses are commonly used as the end point measurements. However, not all chronic pain conditions can be easily measured by behavioral responses such as the headache, phantom pain and pain related to spinal cord injury. ⋯ These cortical indexes are activity-dependent immediate early genes, electrophysiological identified plastic changes and biochemical assays of signaling proteins. It can be used to evaluate novel analgesic compounds that may act at peripheral or spinal sites. I hope that these new cortical endpoint measurements will facilitate our search for new, and more effective, pain medicines, and help to reduce false lead drug targets.
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Previous studies have demonstrates that, after nerve injury, extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) activation in the spinal cord-initially in neurons, then microglia, and finally astrocytes. In addition, phosphorylation of ERK (p-ERK) contributes to nociceptive responses following inflammation and/or nerve injury. However, the role of spinal cells and the ERK/MAPK pathway in cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP) remains poorly understood. The present study analyzed activation of spinal cells and the ERK/MAPK pathway in a rat model of bone cancer pain. ⋯ The ERK inhibitors could have a useful role in CIBP management, because the same target is expressed in various cells at different times.