A method for studying cutaneous pain perception and analgesia in horses.
Abstract: Pain perception and its alteration by analgesic drugs is difficult to measure in the horse. The latency to onset of flexion of a limb in response to a noxious thermal stimulus has been used as a nociceptive end point for analgesic studies in many species. While this method has been employed in the horse, it may be confounded by the spontaneous locomotor activity observed after administration of narcotic analgesics. Consequently, an alternative method of assaying narcotic analgesia that did not involve the equine locomotor apparatus was developed. This report describes the use of the heat-evoked skin-twitch reflex as a reproducible measure of pain threshold and its alteration by the narcotic analgesic fentanyl. This method is compared with the heat-evoked hoof-withdrawal reflex, and the apparatus necessary to elicit both reflexes in the horse is described. Fentanyl, administered at intravenous doses of 0.010, 0.005, and 0.0025 mg/kg, produced a dose-related prolongation of the skin-twitch reflex but failed to alter the latency to hoof withdrawal following noxious thermal stimulation. The skin-twitch reflex is therefore a more sensitive assay of narcotic analgesia in the horse than is the hoof-withdrawal reflex.
Publication Date: 1985-06-01 PubMed ID: 3999760DOI: 10.1016/0160-5402(85)90027-0Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
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This research presents a new method to measure pain perception and the effect of analgesic drugs in horses, using a heat-evoked skin-twitch reflex, demonstrating it as a more sensitive assay than the traditional hoof-withdrawal reflex.
Overview of the Study
- The study explores the difficulty of measuring pain perception in horses and its alteration by analgesic drugs. Traditionally, this has been done by recording the latency to onset of flexion of a limb in response to a noxious thermal stimulus, but this method can be complicated due to the spontaneous locomotor activity seen after the administration of narcotic analgesics.
- As a result, the researchers have developed a new method that does not involve the equine locomotor apparatus. This method uses the heat-evoked skin-twitch reflex as a measure of the pain threshold and its alteration by the narcotic analgesic fentanyl. They also present the necessary apparatus to elicit both skin-twitch and hoof-withdrawal reflexes in horses.
Findings of the Study
- Fentanyl was administered at intravenous doses of 0.010, 0.005, and 0.0025 mg/kg to the horses. The results showed that these doses produced a dose-related prolongation of the skin-twitch reflex and did not seem to affect the latency to hoof withdrawal following noxious thermal stimulation.
- The study concludes that the skin-twitch reflex offers a more sensitive assay of narcotic analgesia in horses than the traditional hoof-withdrawal reflex method. This method can provide a more accurate and less confounded measure of assessing pain perception and its alteration by analgesic drugs in horses.
Cite This Article
APA
Kamerling SG, Weckman TJ, DeQuick DJ, Tobin T.
(1985).
A method for studying cutaneous pain perception and analgesia in horses.
J Pharmacol Methods, 13(3), 267-274.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-5402(85)90027-0 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
MeSH Terms
- Analgesia
- Animals
- Conditioning, Operant / drug effects
- Female
- Fentanyl / pharmacology
- Horses
- Hot Temperature
- Male
- Narcotics / pharmacology
- Pain / physiopathology
- Perception
- Reflex / drug effects
- Skin Physiological Phenomena
Citations
This article has been cited 6 times.- Poller C, Hopster K, Rohn K, Kästner SB. Nociceptive thermal threshold testing in horses - effect of neuroleptic sedation and neuroleptanalgesia at different stimulation sites. BMC Vet Res 2013 Jul 9;9:135.
- Poller C, Hopster K, Rohn K, Kästner SB. Evaluation of contact heat thermal threshold testing for standardized assessment of cutaneous nociception in horses - comparison of different locations and environmental conditions. BMC Vet Res 2013 Jan 8;9:4.
- Bolt DM, Burba DJ, Hubert JD, Pettifer GR, Hosgood GL. Evaluation of cutaneous analgesia after non-focused extracorporeal shock wave application over the 3rd metacarpal bone in horses. Can J Vet Res 2004 Oct;68(4):288-92.
- Nolan A, Livingston A, Waterman AE. Investigation of the antinociceptive activity of buprenorphine in sheep. Br J Pharmacol 1987 Nov;92(3):527-33.
- Paushter AM, Hague DW, Foss KD, Sander WE. Assessment of the cutaneous trunci muscle reflex in neurologically abnormal cats. J Feline Med Surg 2020 Dec;22(12):1200-1205.
- Watts AE, Nixon AJ, Reesink HL, Cheetham J, Fubini SL, Looney AL. Continuous peripheral neural blockade to alleviate signs of experimentally induced severe forelimb pain in horses. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2011 Apr 15;238(8):1032-9.
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