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1. Introduction and Definitions:

• Based on the definition of pain from the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM), pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, and should be expected in an animal subjected to any procedure or disease model that would be likely to cause pain in a human.
• It is generally agreed that pain adversely impacts the welfare of animals and uncontrolled pain is a variable which can confound the interpretation of experimental results.
• Procedures expected to cause more than slight or momentary pain (e.g., pain in excess of a needle prick or injection) require the appropriate use of pain-relieving measures unless scientifically justified in an approved animal use protocol (AUP).

2. Procedures:

a) Clinical Assessment of Post-Procedural Pain

• The most reliable signs of pain and distress in rodents are changes in animal behaviour, thus it is important that the animal user has a good knowledge of species specific and individual behaviour.
• All animals should be observed initially from a distance so their natural behaviour is not inhibited. This should be followed by a closer examination.
• Frequency of observation should be procedure specific, but not less than once per day.
• Contact veterinary staff if any changes in animal behaviour are observed.
• Common clinical signs of pain and distress include:​​​​
  • Reduced level of spontaneous activity
  • Hunched posture
  • Decreased grooming
  • Porphyrin secretions (ocular/nares)
  • Dull-eyed /pale eyes (if albino)
  • Piloerection
  • Reduced food/water intake
  • Increased aggressiveness when handled
  • Sunken eyes/dehydration
  • Squinty eyes

b) Management of Pain:

• Non pharmacological considerations:
  • Providing appropriate housing, handling and restraint as well as using appropriate experimental techniques can support pain management.
  • Fluid and heat therapy are generally provided for rodents displaying signs of pain.
     
• Pharmacological considerations:
  • If not contraindicated by the experimental protocol, preemptive, multi-modal analgesia should be used. For example, administration of a combination including an opioid, non-steroidal anti- inflammatory (NSAID) and a local analgesic.
  • Pre-emptive analgesics, which are given prior to a painful stimulus are generally considered to be more effective, often decreasing the amount of anesthetic required (anesthetic sparing).
  • Multimodal analgesia utilizes the synergistic effects of different drug classes and mechanisms.
• Local anesthetics:
  • Local anesthetic should be infiltrated at the site where the painful stimulus will be induced:

General Analgesics

* Buprenorphine may cause pica (the ingestion of non-food substances) in rats. Full strength stock Bup-HCl solutions (but not Bup-SR) can be diluted with sterile saline to a final concentration of 0.03 mg/mL prior to administration.