Influence of social interaction on nociceptive-induced changes in locomotor activity in a mouse model of acute inflammatory pain: use of novel thermal assays.

Influence of social interaction on nociceptive-induced changes in locomotor activity in a mouse model of acute inflammatory pain: use of novel thermal assays. Brain Res Bull. 2017 Jun 23;: Authors: Smeester BA, Lee JH, Beitz AJ Abstract Most acute and chronic animal models of pain rely heavily on reflexive assays for evaluating levels of nociception, which involves removing the animal from its normal social environment. Here, we examine and characterize the influence of social interactions on inflammatory pain-evoked changes in movement in two different mouse strains. To produce inflammatory nociception, we injected CFA bilaterally into the hind paws of Balb/c and C3H mice and then recorded exploratory locomotor activity using an automated detector system to first evaluate the effects of social behavior on nociception. Secondly, we determined if carprofen administration altered the effects of social behavior on nociceptive-evoked movement. This methodology was expanded to create a novel thermal activity assay to objectively measure the effect of heat and cold on CFA-evoked animal movement in paired animals. Paired Balb/c and C3H mice exhibited significant hyper-locomotion that lasted for 3hours post-injection in Balb/c, but only 1hour post-injection in C3H. Single Balb/c mice only showed increased activity for 1hour post-injection, while single C3H mice showed no increase. This CFA-induced increase in activity in paired animals was h...
Source: Brain Research Bulletin - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Brain Res Bull Source Type: research