title: Persistent neuropathic pain influences persistence behavior in rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether self-regulation can be studied successfully in a rodent model and whether persistent facial pain influences self-regulatory behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats, divided into two groups, (1) chronic constriction injury of the infraorbital nerve (CCI-ION) and (2) naïve, were used in a two-part behavioral paradigm of self-regulation. This paradigm consisted of both a cued go/no-go task (part one) and a persistence trial (part two). All animals were acclimated and trained for a period of 4 weeks prior to the experimental manipulation and then tested for a total of 5 weeks following experimental manipulation. Results were analyzed with t tests, one-way analysis of variance, and two-way, repeated measures analysis of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CCI-ION surgery induced significant mechanical hypersensitivity of the ipsilateral whisker pad that began 3 weeks postsurgery and persisted through the duration of the experiment (P < .001). At weeks 4 and 5 post-experimental manipulation, naïve animals demonstrated a significant decrease in lever presses during the persistence task (P < .05) compared to baseline, whereas CCI-ION animals did not (P = .55).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that persistent pain influences behavioral regulation and that animals experiencing persistent pain may have difficulty adapting to environmental demands.
authors.forename: Tracey C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Kniffin
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Danaher
authors.forename: Karin N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Westlund
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Craig S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Carlson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000523:psychology; D006941:Hyperesthesia / Q000523:psychology; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000523:psychology*; D009915:Orbit / Q000294:innervation; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012201:Reward; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000294:innervation