University of Florida College of Dentistry

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Behavior

Use of the Operant Orofacial Pain Assessment Device (OPAD) to Measure Changes in Nociceptive Behavior

Ethan M. Anderson^1,2, Richard Mills³, Todd A. Nolan⁴, Alan C. Jenkins⁴, Golam Mustafa¹, Chris Lloyd³, Robert M. Caudle^1,2, John K. Neubert⁴

¹Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Florida College of Dentistry, ²Department of Neuroscience, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida College of Medicine , ³Stoelting Co., ⁴Department of Orthodontics, University of Florida

We present a user-friendly, high-throughput operant system for the evaluation of pain behaviors in awake, conscious rodents. The Orofacial Pain Assessment Device (OPAD) can assess pain through a reward/conflict paradigm thus providing a more humane way of testing. This protocol will yield more clinically relevant and translational data from rodents.

Behavior

Assessment of Nerve Injury-Induced Mechanical Hypersensitivity in Rats Using an Orofacial Operant Pain Assay

Basak Donertas-Ayaz¹, Ariana C. Brice-Tutt², Wendi L. Malphurs², Darrice Montgomery², Richard H. Mills³, John K. Neubert², Robert M. Caudle¹

¹Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Florida, Gainesville, ²Department of Orthodontics, University of Florida, Gainesville, ³Stoelting Co. Wood Dale

This protocol describes the assessment of mechanical hypersensitivity in a rat model of neuropathic orofacial pain using an operant-based orofacial pain assessment device.