Psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse: ambient temperature as a key factor for variation.
<h4>Background</h4>The mouse is increasingly used in biomedical research, notably in behavioral neurosciences for the development of tests or models of pain. Our goal was to provide the scientific community with an outstanding tool that allows the determination of psychophysical descript...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2012-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22629325/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1818400403521273856 |
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| author | Ivanne Pincedé Bernard Pollin Theo Meert Léon Plaghki Daniel Le Bars |
| author_facet | Ivanne Pincedé Bernard Pollin Theo Meert Léon Plaghki Daniel Le Bars |
| author_sort | Ivanne Pincedé |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>The mouse is increasingly used in biomedical research, notably in behavioral neurosciences for the development of tests or models of pain. Our goal was to provide the scientific community with an outstanding tool that allows the determination of psychophysical descriptors of a nociceptive reaction, which are inaccessible with conventional methods: namely the true threshold, true latency, conduction velocity of the peripheral fibers that trigger the response and latency of the central decision-making process.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Basically, the procedures involved heating of the tail with a CO(2) laser, recording of tail temperature with an infrared camera and stopping the heating when the animal reacted. The method is based mainly on the measurement of three observable variables, namely the initial temperature, the heating rate and the temperature reached at the actual moment of the reaction following random variations in noxious radiant heat. The initial temperature of the tail, which itself depends on the ambient temperature, very markedly influenced the behavioral threshold, the behavioral latency and the conduction velocity of the peripheral fibers but not the latency of the central decision-making.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>We have validated a psychophysical approach to nociceptive reactions for the mouse, which has already been described for rats and Humans. It enables the determination of four variables, which contribute to the overall latency of the response. The usefulness of such an approach was demonstrated by providing new fundamental findings regarding the influence of ambient temperature on nociceptive processes. We conclude by challenging the validity of using as "pain index" the reaction time of a behavioral response to an increasing heat stimulus and emphasize the need for a very careful control of the ambient temperature, as a prevailing environmental source of variation, during any behavioral testing of mice. |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-330101062eab4c97ad45be765864270e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T07:36:01Z |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-330101062eab4c97ad45be765864270e2022-12-21T23:11:11ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0175e3669910.1371/journal.pone.0036699Psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse: ambient temperature as a key factor for variation.Ivanne PincedéBernard PollinTheo MeertLéon PlaghkiDaniel Le Bars<h4>Background</h4>The mouse is increasingly used in biomedical research, notably in behavioral neurosciences for the development of tests or models of pain. Our goal was to provide the scientific community with an outstanding tool that allows the determination of psychophysical descriptors of a nociceptive reaction, which are inaccessible with conventional methods: namely the true threshold, true latency, conduction velocity of the peripheral fibers that trigger the response and latency of the central decision-making process.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Basically, the procedures involved heating of the tail with a CO(2) laser, recording of tail temperature with an infrared camera and stopping the heating when the animal reacted. The method is based mainly on the measurement of three observable variables, namely the initial temperature, the heating rate and the temperature reached at the actual moment of the reaction following random variations in noxious radiant heat. The initial temperature of the tail, which itself depends on the ambient temperature, very markedly influenced the behavioral threshold, the behavioral latency and the conduction velocity of the peripheral fibers but not the latency of the central decision-making.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>We have validated a psychophysical approach to nociceptive reactions for the mouse, which has already been described for rats and Humans. It enables the determination of four variables, which contribute to the overall latency of the response. The usefulness of such an approach was demonstrated by providing new fundamental findings regarding the influence of ambient temperature on nociceptive processes. We conclude by challenging the validity of using as "pain index" the reaction time of a behavioral response to an increasing heat stimulus and emphasize the need for a very careful control of the ambient temperature, as a prevailing environmental source of variation, during any behavioral testing of mice.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22629325/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Ivanne Pincedé Bernard Pollin Theo Meert Léon Plaghki Daniel Le Bars Psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse: ambient temperature as a key factor for variation. PLoS ONE |
| title | Psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse: ambient temperature as a key factor for variation. |
| title_full | Psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse: ambient temperature as a key factor for variation. |
| title_fullStr | Psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse: ambient temperature as a key factor for variation. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse: ambient temperature as a key factor for variation. |
| title_short | Psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse: ambient temperature as a key factor for variation. |
| title_sort | psychophysics of a nociceptive test in the mouse ambient temperature as a key factor for variation |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22629325/?tool=EBI |
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