STAR Protocols (Mar 2021)

Using high-speed videography for objective and reproducible pain measurement on a mouse pain scale

  • Justin Burdge,
  • Nathan T. Fried,
  • Ishmail Abdus-Saboor

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 1
p. 100322

Abstract

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Summary: Mouse models are essential for studying pain neurobiology and testing pain therapeutics. The reliance on assays that only measure the presence, absence, or frequency of a reflex have limited the reliability of preclinical pain studies. Our high-speed videography protocol overcomes this by projecting the discrete sub-second kinematic behavioral features induced by hind paw stimulation onto a “mouse pain scale.” This provides a more objective and robust pain measurement in mice by quantifying the quality of the stimulus-induced hind paw reflex.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Abdus-Saboor et al. (2019).

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