title: Conditioned place preference reveals tonic pain in an animal model of central pain.
abstract: A limitation of animal models of central pain is their inability to recapitulate all clinical characteristics of the human condition. Specifically, many animal models rely on reflexive measures of hypersensitivity and ignore, or cannot assess, spontaneous pain, the hallmark characteristic of central pain in humans. Here, we adopt a conditioned place preference paradigm to test if animals with lesions in the anterolateral quadrant of the spinal cord develop signs consistent with spontaneous pain. This paradigm relies on the fact that pain relief is rewarding to animals, and has been used previously to show that animals with peripheral nerve injury develop tonic pain. With the use of 2 analgesic treatments commonly used to treat patients with central pain (clonidine infusion and motor cortex stimulation), we demonstrate that analgesic treatments are rewarding to animals with spinal cord lesions but not sham-operated controls. These findings are consistent with the conclusion that animals with spinal cord injury suffer from tonic pain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The hallmark characteristic of central pain in humans is spontaneous pain. Animal models of central pain rely on reflexive measures of hypersensitivity and do not assess spontaneous pain. Demonstrating that animals with spinal cord injury suffer from tonic pain is important to study the etiology of central pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontics,Prosthodontics and Operative Dentistry, Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, 650 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Leyla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Davoody
authors.forename: Raimi L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Quiton
authors.forename: Jessica M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Yadong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Asaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: Radi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masri
mesh_terms: D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000818:Animals; D002047:Buprenorphine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003000:Clonidine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006930:Hyperalgesia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics; D002047:Buprenorphine; D003000:Clonidine