Animal Models in Pain Research

Jeffrey S. Mogil, PhD

E.P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies
Department of Psychology and Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Elucidation of the underpinnings of pain regulation in laboratory animals provides a powerful avenue for research into comparable mechanisms in humans. Drawbacks remain, however, and new experimental systems are needed, even if they are likely to be more labor intensive. Improving animal models, including the use of more appropriate measures of human clinical pain states and better representing epidemiologic insights into human chronic pain disorders, should increase their utility and enhance translation of bench-top research to the clinic. Similarly, advances in evaluating human pain, such as genetic analyses and neuroimaging techniques, help build an objectively verifiable foundation of the pain experience. Here, Dr. Mogil provides examples of how work in animal models and human clinical studies complement each other, potentially leading to more effective pain assessment and management strategies.

References

Mogil JS, Davis KD, Derbyshire SW. The necessity of animal models in pain research. Pain. 2010;151:12-17.
Langley CK, Aziz Q, Bountra C, et al. Volunteer studies in pain research—opportunities and challenges to replace animal experiments: the report and recommendations of a focus on alternatives workshop. Neuroimage. 2008;42:467-473
Rice ASC, Cimino-Brown D, Eisenach JC, et al. Animal models and the prediction of efﬁcacy in clinical trials of analgesic drugs: a critical appraisal and call for uniform reporting standards. Pain. 2008;139:241-245.

Chronic opioid therapy and preventive services in rural primary care: an Oregon rural practice-based research network study.

Buckley DI, Calvert JF, Lapidus JA, et al.
Ann Fam Med. 2010;8(3):237-44.
PURPOSE:...

A different kind of co-morbidity: Understanding posttraumatic stress disorder and chronic pain

Beck JG, Clapp JD.
Psychol Trauma. 2011 Jun;3(2):101-108.
Many traumatic events leave...

The impact of enrollment in a specialized interdisciplinary neuropathic pain clinic

Garven A, Brady S, Wood S, Hatfield M, Bestard J, Korngut L, Toth C.
Pain Res Manag. 2011...

Association between urine drug test results and treatment outcome in high-risk chronic pain patients on opioids

Barth KS, Becker WC, Wiedemer NL, Mavandadi S, Oslin DW, Meghani SH, Gallagher RM.
J Addict...

The role of core strengthening for chronic low back pain.

Akuthota V, Standaert CJ, Chimes GP.
PM R. 2011 Jul;3(7):664-70.