Detection of Cold Pain, Cold Allodynia and Cold Hyperalgesia in Freely Behaving Rats
Open Access
- 1 January 2005
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Molecular Pain
- Vol. 1 (1), 36-9
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-8069-1-36
Abstract
Background: Pain is elicited by cold, and a major feature of many neuropathic pain states is that normally innocuous cool stimuli begin to produce pain (cold allodynia). To expand our understanding of cold induced pain states we have studied cold pain behaviors over a range of temperatures in several animal models of chronic pain. Results: We demonstrate that a Peltier-cooled cold plate with ± 1°C sensitivity enables quantitative measurement of a detection withdrawal response to cold stimuli in unrestrained rats. In naïve rats the threshold for eliciting cold pain behavior is 5°C. The withdrawal threshold for cold allodynia is 15°C in both the spared nerve injury and spinal nerve ligation models of neuropathic pain. Cold hyperalgesia is present in the spared nerve injury model animals, manifesting as a reduced latency of withdrawal response threshold at temperatures that elicit cold pain in naïve rats. We also show that following the peripheral inflammation produced by intraplantar injection of complete Freund's adjuvant, a hypersensitivity to cold occurs. Conclusion: The peltier-cooled provides an effective means of assaying cold sensitivity in unrestrained rats. Behavioral testing of cold allodynia, hyperalgesia and pain will greatly facilitate the study of the neurobiological mechanisms involved in cold/cool sensations and enable measurement of the efficacy of pharmacological treatments to reduce these symptoms.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Chronic unpredictable stress inhibits nociception in male ratsNeuroscience Letters, 2004
- Spinal nerve injury increases the percentage of cold-responsive DRG neuronsNeuroReport, 2004
- Mustard oils and cannabinoids excite sensory nerve fibres through the TRP channel ANKTM1Nature, 2004
- ANKTM1, a TRP-like Channel Expressed in Nociceptive Neurons, Is Activated by Cold TemperaturesCell, 2003
- Cold allodynia and hyperalgesia in neuropathic pain: the effect of N -methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine – a double-blind, cross-over comparison with alfentanil and placeboPain, 2003
- A TRP Channel that Senses Cold Stimuli and MentholCell, 2002
- A Role of the Ubiquitin–Proteasome System in Neuropathic PainJournal of Neuroscience, 2002
- Identification of a cold receptor reveals a general role for TRP channels in thermosensationNature, 2002
- Spared nerve injury: an animal model of persistent peripheral neuropathic painPain, 2000
- An operant assay of thermal pain in conscious, unrestrained ratsJournal of Neuroscience Methods, 2000