ArticlePain reports
Performance of behavioral assays: the Rat Grimace Scale, burrowing activity and a composite behavior score to identify visceral pain in an acute and chronic colitis model.
Article in Pain reports. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Rodent Animal Models of Endometriosis-Associated Pain: Unmet Needs and Resources Available for Improving Translational Research in Endometriosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Voluntary Wheel Running as Refinement Tool for Postoperative Severity Assessment and Humane Endpoint Detection in Rats with Brain Tumors.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- DSS Colitis Model: Traps, Tricks, and Reporting Recommendations.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Behavioral assessment of pain in rodents: advances from evoked responses to spontaneous states and multimodal approaches.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The grimace scale: a useful tool for assessing pain in laboratory animals.Experimental animals · 2024Review
- Cuminaldehyde Effects in a MIA-Induced Experimental Model Osteoarthritis in Rat Knees.Metabolites · 2023Article
- Nonopioid analgesics discovery and the Valley of Death: EMA401 from concept to clinical trial.Pain · 2022Article
- Pulsatilla decoction alleviates colitis by enhancing autophagy and regulating PI3K‑Akt‑mTORC1 signaling pathway.Molecular medicine reports · 2022Article
- Article
- The neurobiology of pain and facial movements in rodents: Clinical applications and current research.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Review
- Methods Used and Application of the Mouse Grimace Scale in Biomedical Research 10 Years on: A Scoping Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Indicators of Postoperative Pain in Syrian Hamsters (Comparative medicine · 2021Article
- Hypothermia During General Anesthesia Interferes with Pain Assessment in Laboratory Rats (Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS · 2020Article
- The Utility of Grimace Scales for Practical Pain Assessment in Laboratory Animals.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2020Review
- Grimace Scores: Tools to Support the Identification of Pain in Mammals Used in Research.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2020Review
- Possible implications of animal models for the assessment of visceral pain.Animal models and experimental medicine · 2020Review
- Preclinical Neuropathic Pain Assessment; the Importance of Translatability and Bidirectional Research.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2020Review
- Intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbital has the potential to elicit pain in adult rats (Rattus norvegicus).PloS one · 2020Article
- A Review of Pain Assessment Methods in Laboratory Rodents.Comparative medicine · 2019Review
- Use of the Rat Grimace Scale to Evaluate Visceral Pain in a Model of Chemotherapy-Induced Mucositis.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe Rat Grimace Scale (RGS), a facial expression scale, quantifies the affective component of pain in rats. The RGS was developed to identify acute and inflammatory pain, and applicability in acute and chronic visceral pain is unknown. The dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) colitis model is commonly used in rats, but pain is rarely assessed, instead, disease progression is monitored with the Disease Activity Index (DAI; assessing fecal blood, stool consistency, and weight loss).
objectivesThe aim of this study was to assess whether the RGS and 2 additional behavioral tools (composite behavior score [CBS] and burrowing) could identify pain in an acute and chronic DSS colitis model.
methodsMale and female Sprague-Dawley rats were block randomized to (1) acute colitis (4 days DSS in drinking water); (2) chronic colitis (4 days DSS, 7 days water, and 3 days DSS); or (3) control (14 days water). Disease Activity Index, RGS, CBS, and burrowing assessments were performed daily.
resultsRat Grimace Scale scores increased as DAI scores increased during both acute and chronic phases. Burrowing only decreased during the acute phase. By contrast, CBS scores did not increase significantly during either colitis phase.
conclusionsThese data show that the RGS and burrowing did not decrease in a sustained manner during chronic phase visceral pain, and that variables assessed in the DAI are indicative of pain. This suggests that the RGS can be applied to a wider range of pain types and chronicity than originally suggested. These findings increase the application of the RGS as a pain scale and welfare improvement tool.
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