Title:Methods for Evaluating Sensory, Affective and Cognitive Disorders in Neuropathic Rodents
Volume: 19
Issue: 6
Author(s): Enza Palazzo*, Ida Marabese, Francesca Gargano, Francesca Guida, Carmela Belardo and Sabatino Maione
Affiliation:
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Pharmacology Division, University of Campania Vanvitelli, Naples,Italy
Keywords:
Neuropathic pain, stimulus-evoked pain, spontaneous pain, anxiety-like and depression-like behavior, cognitive deficits,
behavioral tests.
Abstract: The animal models of neuropathic pain that faithfully reproduce the symptoms that occur
in humans are a fundamental tool for understanding the mechanisms underlying the disease,
identifying new targets, and developing effective drugs. So far, the studies aimed at describing the
animal models of neuropathic pain have been focused mainly on the sensory symptoms associated
with the disease consisting of mechanical allodynia and hyperalgesia, cold allodynia and hyperalgesia,
and heat hyperalgesia. However, affective and cognitive comorbidities occur in patients suffering
from neuropathic pain, arising in a closely associated and dependent manner on the sensory
symptoms. The same occurs in animal models of neuropathic pain in which anxiety- and depressive-
like behaviors and cognitive disorders are observable at different time points from the induction
of neuropathy. Today there are several tests available that exploit different paradigms in rodents
for measuring sensorial, affective, and cognitive behavior. This review will describe those
mainly used in the scientific community. The tests mainly used are based on the motor activity of
the animals tested, so it is fundamental that it remains unaffected in the model used for inducing
neuropathic pain. We hope that this review will be useful to the scientific community to direct the
choice towards the best, most suitable, and simplest tests for the study of the sensory, affective, and
cognitive symptoms associated with neuropathic pain.
