Rationale and Methods for Assessment of Pain-Depressed Behavior in Preclinical Assays of Pain and Analgesia
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Pain-depressed behavior can be defined as any behavior that decreases in rate, frequency, duration, or intensity in response
to a putative pain state. Common examples include pain-related decreases in feeding, locomotion and expression of positively
reinforced operant behavior. In humans, depression of behavior is often accompanied by a comorbid depression of mood. Measurements
of pain-depressed behaviors are used to diagnose pain in both human and veterinary medicine, and restoration of pain-depressed
behavior is often a priority of treatment. This article describes two strategies for integrating measures of pain-depressed
behaviors into preclinical assays of pain and analgesia. Assays of pain-depressed behaviors may contribute both to improved
translational efficiency in analgesic drug development and to new insights regarding the mechanisms and determinants of pain
and analgesia.