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Age‐related impact of neuropathic pain on animal behaviour
Author(s) -
Pickering Gisèle,
Jourdan Didier,
Millecamps Magali,
Chapuy Eric,
Alliot Josette,
Eschalier Alain
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
european journal of pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.305
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1532-2149
pISSN - 1090-3801
DOI - 10.1016/j.ejpain.2005.12.002
Subject(s) - neuropathic pain , medicine , neuroscience , physical medicine and rehabilitation , anesthesia , psychology
The number of old and very old persons is increasing and there is evidence that aging coincides with chronic painful conditions. Pain induces behavioural disorders that have been so far poorly identified in old and even less in very old animals. The aim of this study was to: (1) compare the evolution of pain in senescent animals (37‐39 months) to old (20–22 months) and young (4–6 months) Lou/cjall rats after a chronic constriction of the sciatic nerve; (2) evaluate pain during four weeks after surgery with an experimental and an observational approach to determine how the response to noxious stimuli correlates with recorded spontaneous behaviour. Results showed that senescent animals are less sensitive to neuropathic pain than old or young rats while senescent/old rats are more sensitive to acute pain. The correlation between observational and experimental pain scores stresses the reliability of non‐invasive measures for pain evaluation in senescent populations. The dichotomy between neuropathic and acute pain perceptions with age needs to be further investigated and would help to better understand the reasons of this uneven pain perception and expression with age.