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Zhang H, Lecker I, Collymore C, Dokova A, Pham MC, Rosen SF, Crawhall-Duk H, Zain M, Valencia M, Filippini HF, Li J, D'Souza AJ, Cho C, Michailidis V, Whissell PD, Patel I, Steenland HW, Virginia Lee WJ, Moayedi M, Sterley TL, Bains JS, Stratton JA, Matyas JR, Biernaskie J, Dubins D, Vukobradovic I, Bezginov A, Flenniken AM, Martin LJ, Mogil JS, Bonin RP. Cage-lid hanging behavior as a translationally relevant measure of pain in mice. Pain 2021; 162:1416-1425. [PMID: 33230005 PMCID: PMC8054539 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Revised: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT The development of new analgesic drugs has been hampered by the inability to translate preclinical findings to humans. This failure is due in part to the weak connection between commonly used pain outcome measures in rodents and the clinical symptoms of chronic pain. Most rodent studies rely on the use of experimenter-evoked measures of pain and assess behavior under ethologically unnatural conditions, which limits the translational potential of preclinical research. Here, we addressed this problem by conducting an unbiased, prospective study of behavioral changes in mice within a natural homecage environment using conventional preclinical pain assays. Unexpectedly, we observed that cage-lid hanging, a species-specific elective behavior, was the only homecage behavior reliably impacted by pain assays. Noxious stimuli reduced hanging behavior in an intensity-dependent manner, and the reduction in hanging could be restored by analgesics. Finally, we developed an automated approach to assess hanging behavior. Collectively, our results indicate that the depression of hanging behavior is a novel, ethologically valid, and translationally relevant pain outcome measure in mice that could facilitate the study of pain and analgesic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hantao Zhang
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Irene Lecker
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Chereen Collymore
- Division of Comparative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Animal Care and Veterinary Services, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Anastassia Dokova
- Departments of Psychology and Anesthesia, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | | | - Sarah F. Rosen
- Departments of Psychology and Anesthesia, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Hayley Crawhall-Duk
- Departments of Psychology and Anesthesia, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Maham Zain
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Megan Valencia
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | - Jerry Li
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Abigail J. D'Souza
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- The Centre for Phenogenomics, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Chulmin Cho
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Vassilia Michailidis
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Paul D. Whissell
- Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Ingita Patel
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | - Wai-Jane Virginia Lee
- Centre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Massieh Moayedi
- Centre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Toni-Lee Sterley
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Jaideep S. Bains
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Jo Anne Stratton
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - John R. Matyas
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Jeff Biernaskie
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - David Dubins
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | | | | | - Loren J. Martin
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
- Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Jeffrey S. Mogil
- Departments of Psychology and Anesthesia, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Robert P. Bonin
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
- Centre for the Study of Pain, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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