title: Psychophysical methods for the measurement of somatosensory dysfunction of laboratory animals.
abstract: Somatosensory dysfunction is a widely reported clinical consequence of chemical exposure. Assessment of such dysfunction should be an important component of agent safety testing, necessarily implying evaluation of psychophysical functions in laboratory animals. The logic of testing agent-induced sensory dysfunction, conceptual and practical factors affecting such tests, and the categories of experimental methods available are reviewed.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D011603:Psychophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology; D012677:Sensation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*