Freedom from pain and physical distress is widely accepted as being a critical part of animal welfare. However, in order to minimize suffering by the animal we must first devise a scale with which to assess the degree of pain that it is feeling. There have been several important developments in animal research in the last twelve months pertaining to pain evaluation in animals. The aim of each o...

Tricyclic antidepressants and serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors are used to treat chronic pain, such as neuropathic pain. Why antidepressants are effective for treatment of neuropathic pain and the precise mechanisms underlying their effects, however, remain unclear. The inhibitory effects of these antidepressants for neuropathic pain manifest more quickly than their antidepressive ef...

In this review, we integrate recent human and animal studies from the viewpoint of chronic pain. First, we briefly review the impact of chronic pain on society and address current pitfalls of its definition and clinical management. Second, we examine pain mechanisms via nociceptive information transmission cephalad and its impact and interaction with the cortex. Third, we present recent discove...

The present study was a protocol for investigation of the effect of acetaminophen (i.p.) on pain induced by electrical stimulation. We used tail shock vocalization (TSV) test for measurement of the pain. In this test, the animals were restrained and stimulated by two electrode implanted on the middle of the animal’s tail. The latency from stimulation of the tail till vocalization of the animal ...