Use of the Operant Orofacial Pain Assessment Device (OPAD) to Measure Changes in Nociceptive BehaviorEthan M. Anderson 1,2, Richard Mills 3, Todd A. Nolan 4, Alan C. Jenkins 4, Golam Mustafa 1, Chris Lloyd 3, Robert M. Caudle 1,2, John K. Neubert 4
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.
